The Devil's Little Angel
by quietcutie651
Summary: WolverineOC Review/Flame
1. Man

"Mae?" I looked down at my little sister. She was walking along side me holding my hand as we walked home. She looked worried, which was strange for her, being six and all.

"Yeah Rain?"

She looked past me into the alley we were passing. Her bright brown eyes seemed to penetrate through the darkness. "There's a man in there." She said.

I whipped my head around to look down the alley. "C'mon, baby." I said tugging on her hand.

"No wait! He's hurt!"

I looked down at her in exasperation. "Honey, we can't get involved."

"But…but Mommy…" her bottom lip quivered.

My heart wrenched in my chest. I wasn't actually her Mom, but I didn't mind. I didn't even know if we were actually sisters…but more of that later.

"He's hurt." She whined quietly.

I closed my eyes and steeled myself. _You will not give in._ I instructed myself firmly. _You will not look into those chocolate brown eyes and…_ I slowly opened one eye. Oh, God. The puppy dog pout. How could I say 'no' now?

"Fine." I grumbled. "But, you stay here!" I told her pointing to the spot we were standing.

She had a very satisfied smile on her face. She knew I acted tough, but was really just a big softie on the inside. I crept into the alleyway.

"Hello?" I called cautiously. I walked further into the darkness. The sun was just setting and it cast disturbing shadows across the walls. Then I spotted him.

He was sitting in an upright position leaning against the wall. His shirt was ripped to shreds and blood trickled from four deep scratches on his cheek. His chest was torn up pretty bad. But, man was it a nice looking chest. I knelt by him and poked him in the shoulder.

"Hey Mister? Wake up."

He groaned faintly. I guessed he would've been tall if he were standing. He had light brown hair and these awesome red shades. I wrapped my arms around him and dragged him out into the light. I felt blood trickling over my arms and willed my stomach to be strong. I'd seen worse. Rain was still standing there, thank God. I harrumphed at her as I lifted him further up into my arms.

"Just our luck, right?" I asked her. She just smiled at me and that made it all seem worth it.

Our apartment was only another block and a half up. We made it there with minimal stares. It was Los Angeles; apparently, this happened all the time. Or something equally strange. Huh. Getting him up the stairs was an adventure. One-step at a time we got there. Past A3 with the fighting couple, and beyond B1 with the blaring TV, and further than the little old woman in C2 with a nasty temper and access to a cane. We came to a stop outside our apartment, C5. I dropped him hard on the floor as I dug around in my pocket for the key. I unlocked the door and let Rain go ahead of us. I dragged him in and dumped him on the floor again, probably rougher than I should've and sat, exhausted, in the one comfortable chair we had.

Rain stepped back to the front door and closed it softly. I tossed her the key and she locked it. She walked around the man and climbed in my lap.

"How'd you find him anyways?" I asked snuggling closer to her. "I didn't even see him until I was on top of him."

"I felt him. In my head." She said hugging me back briefly then pulling away.

I reluctantly let her go. That's right. I had forgotten about her mutation. Rain was a mutant. A healer actually. She could heal herself instantly, any wound she got closing up immediately. She could also feel other people's pain. Not physically, but as she explained to me once their aura changed. Mostly a person's aura was one solid bright color that swirled around. When they were in pain, she said, it grew darker or had pieces of black swirls in it. She could also heal other people. Not as well as herself, mostly only cuts and other small stuff. She squatted by the man.

"Rain…" I said warningly. I knew what she was thinking. She wanted to heal this guy. That was great and all; points for Good Samaritan, but healing left her tired and hurt. Once she insisted that she heal a gash on my hand. She healed it; then, slept for two days. Longest two days of my life.

She pouted and stepped away from him while I got up and knelt next to him. I wasn't a mutant. At least, not that I knew. Problem was I could only remember the last two years of my life. I had woken up in the middle of a destroyed house. My ears were ringing and I had no idea where I was. Rain was crying and tugging on my arm. 'Course I didn't know it was her at the time. I had just enough sense to grab her and run though. Picked her up and bolted into the forest. When we seemed safe, I interrogated her. Who was she? Who was I? Where were we? Where were her parents? However, she was only four years old and couldn't tell me much. She just said that 'the bad men' had taken her father and she wouldn't answer anything about her mother. So I asked her what I was. A sister? A cousin? She just shook her head.

So now here we were. I started pulling stuff out of his pockets. Wallet crumpled up business card, compact (?), and a set of keys. I opened the wallet curiously letting Rain play with the ring of keys. His I.D. said that his name was Scott Summers. I poked him again.

"Hey. Scott."

He grunted in what I interpreted as irritation and lay still again. I rolled my eyes, set the wallet aside, and smoothed out the business card. _Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters._ I wrinkled my nose. Professor Xavier's? Never heard of it. Probably some prep school Scott's son went to. I flicked it away and reached for the compact. It was smooth and black. I turned it over and traced the large silver x. It almost looked like a button…I pressed it and the thing opened. Rain crawled next to me watched in fascination as it unfolded. Well, dang. Now it looked like a cell phone. Only problem was that there were no buttons or screen. I lifted it cautiously to my ear and heard a voice.

"Scott? Scott is that you?"

I looked at Rain incredulously. I opened my mouth to answer when another voice cut me off.

"Please, Scott, are you hurt?"

I heard a voice in the background.

"I cannot locate him on Cerebro."

"Hang on, Scott we'll find you."

I shut the phone. "Oh, snap."

So someone was looking for him. That was good. If they called back, I could tell them where he was and they could come pick him up. Then he would be out of me and Rain's hair. I opened the phone again and lifted it to my ear. Nothing. No dial tone…hmmm.

"Well that was weird." I said to Rain.

I rolled back on my heels until I landed on my butt. She was looking at me intently. I stared back at her.

"What?" I asked bewildered.

"I'm hungry." She stated as if it was obvious.

I blinked at her for a second then got up off the floor.

"Okay then. The usual?" she nodded vigorously.

She was happily munching away on her bowl of cheerios as I thought. These people would find him eventually, right? But, if they had that kind of power…they were dangerous. And I vowed to myself from the very first day with Rain that I would never let anything bad happen to her. So maybe this wasn't good. I needed to get him out. Now. Was there anywhere safe I could dump him? I'd take him downstairs tomorrow morning. If they could track him, they'd find him eventually. For this guy's sake, I hope it was sooner.

"Done Mae-Mae."

I smiled at her and put her bowl in the sink. I wasn't hungry. I actually felt sick. Now we were in danger. As I stripped the lone mattress in the corner, I planned it out. I'd wake up tomorrow and drag him downstairs. He'd stay there until they picked him up, he'd wake up, or someone would call the cops. Don't get me wrong I wanted to help him. But, Rain came first. I watched as she kicked the blankets roughly in place on the floor.

Dragging Scott up on the mattress was a struggle, but I did it. Rain had changed into her cute second-hand pajamas and lay curled up fast asleep. I sunk down next to her more or less gracefully and snuggled up behind her. In seconds, I was asleep too.


	2. Hank and Ororo

I opened a bleary eye as someone pounded on the door. I untangled myself as delicately as possible from the blankets and trudged over. I opened it a crack as they started hitting it again. 'They' turned out to be a tall elegant white haired woman and a very big man. They looked familiar. I stuck my head out.

"Sorry, we're not home right now. Come back again at a decent hour." I tried to close the door, but to my fury, the man stuck out his hand halting my progress.

"It is nine in the morning." He said frowning.

I glared back. "Exactly. It's a weekend. It is far too early for this nonsense." For my own twisted humor, I threw in a British accent at the end. What could I say? I was tired.

They looked at each other.

"Miss…" he waited for me to give my name. When I remained silent, he sighed. "We have reason to believe a friend of ours is in that room."

My eyes widened then narrowed.

"What's his name?" I asked suspiciously.

"Scott Summers." The woman replied immediately.

"Ah." I said opening the door all the way. "Be quiet, though, okay?" I led them in.

They followed as I walked into the bedroom.

"Well…. Is that him?" I asked.

He was sprawled out over the mattress. It didn't look like he had moved at all during the night. The woman gasped.

"Scott!"

She rushed to his side while the man stood next to me.

"Oh my. What happened to him?" he asked taking off his glasses. I shrugged.

"We found him in an alley. Just like this. We thought it'd be safer if we just took care of him for a while."

"We?" he asked.

I nodded suddenly hyper aware of my surroundings. The door was about three feet behind me. I could make a run for it if they weren't expecting it. But, Rain…

"So…" I said uncomfortably feeling sick again as I shifted my weight from foot to foot. "Take him then."

The lady stood again. The man turned to me putting on his glasses.

"Is he okay?" he asked.

The woman nodded. "He'll be fine. Deep scratches on his chest, probably a concussion…"

"Where are your parents?"

I tried to keep my face neutral. "They're out." I lied. "They're coming back any minute. I suggest you go now. My father has a temper."

"Mommy?" asked Rain sleepily. Our conversation had woken her up.

"C'mere baby." She walked to me sleepily. I picked her up and started to walk backwards carefully.

"Hey, hold on." The man said. "We aren't going to hurt you."

I tried not to sneer at him. "I'm sure. Take your friend and leave. Don't ever come back."

"Is there something we can do for you?" the lady asked stepping foreword. I reeled backwards, my back smacking the wall. I looked at them distrustfully.

"You got any cash?" I hated to beg, but whatever worked.

"Mae?" asked Rain. I glanced at her. "They aren't bad guys."

My face screwed up in a grimace and Rain blinked at me in surprise. I never looked at her that way.

"How do you know?" I hissed.

She tapped her head then leaned in and whispered loudly. "I feel it. In my head."

My eyes shot to our visitors in horror. I leaned back in and comically whispered back.

"You whisper like a cow."

She giggled.

"Yeah, she's a mutant." I said. "No, I don't have parents. And I don't care." They exchanged glances again. "I take care of her just fine. You wanna make something of it? C'mon let's go." I set Rain down and eased into a fighting stance. "You and me right now."

"Mae." Rain said again.

I glanced down at her. "What?"

"They aren't bad guys."

"Yeah, well. They need to prove it honey."

"Maybe there is someplace we could sit down and talk." The man suggested.

"I'm fine standing." I said defiantly.

"Maybe, we should start over." Said the woman. She walked up to me and held out her hand in a non-threatening way. "My name is Ororo Monroe. This is Doctor Hank McCoy."

"That's where I know you from!" I exclaimed suddenly. "I've seen you on TV! Aren't you a secretary or something?"

He chuckled. "Something like that."

I took her hand gingerly still expecting violence.

"My name's Mae. And this," I said gesturing to Rain. "is my little sister Rain."

Rain ran out into the kitchen. I followed her out where she was sitting at the tiny kitchen table obviously waiting for her cheerios. I was still wary about turning my back to these people, but I chanced it to get the box of cereal. As soon as the bowl was placed in front of Rain, I started talking.

"So, who are you really? What do you do? What's Xavier's?"

Ororo smiled good-naturedly. "Xavier's is a school. It's where we work."

"A school?" I looked at Rain. "What kind of school?"

Ororo leaned foreword. "It's a school for children like Rain. For mutants."

I thought about it for a moment.

"So you guys are teachers?" she nodded. "And so's Scott?"

Another nod.

"He's too hot to be a teacher!" I exclaimed.

Ororo grinned and Hank chuckled.

I blushed. "That's…ummm….I meant…" I rolled my eyes. "Never mind. Where is this school?"

"New York."

New York…hmmm…. "Is there an age restriction?"

"No. However, there aren't many children who manifest as early as Rain." Ororo frowned. "I wonder what caused it."

I shrugged. "I don't remember. She's been like this forever."

"You don't remember?" asked Hank.

I shook my head.

He looked confused so I elaborated.

"I can only remember two years ago. I woke up and Rain was there. We were in danger so I picked her up and ran."

He leaned foreword. "You remember nothing before that?"

"No."

"How old is Rain?"

"Six."

"How old are you?"

"Dunno. How old do I look?" I resisted the urge to twirl on the spot.

Hank's grin faded rapidly. "Are you a mutant?"

"Not that I've seen. I mean…I don't know. I guess not. I haven't been levitating or healing or anything like that."

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Ah. What is Rain's mutation?"

"Ask her."

He turned to Rain and knelt by her. "Hello, my dear. My name is Hank. May I ask you a question?"

She nodded and gave him the grin. Not just any grin. It was THE grin. My grin. I instantly bristled and scowled.

"Hi, Hank."

"What is your gift?"

"I heal. And once I healed Mommy. And I can feel you in my head." She leaned foreword conspiratorially. "Blue is my favorite color."

His jaw dropped and so did Ororo's. "How…" he breathed.

I smirked. "Kinda cool ain't it?" I asked.

"Hank. Maybe you should show them." Ororo said.

His jaw tightened. "I really don't think so Ororo. I doubt that they would…" he trailed off looking at Rain. Sighing, he tapped a button on his watch and twisted a knob. All of a sudden, his form flickered and in his place stood a huge blue hairy creature. I blinked. I blinked again.

"Ah. Well that's not something you see every day."

"Yes. I know my form can be quite shocking…" he trailed off again nervously.

"I like it." I declared. "Blue is a cool color."

Rain nodded spastically. He looked genuinely surprised.

"Well." I said. "You're still Hank. And if you're still Hank, then you're still smart. Color doesn't affect brainpower. Not that I know of."

He smiled. "Thank you."

I smiled back. "What's your power?" I asked Ororo.

"I control the weather."

"Wow. That's really cool." I breathed. "And Scott?"

"You saw the glasses?"

I nodded.

"He has optic beams that come out from his eyes. The glasses are the only way to control them."

I was vaguely aware of my mouth hanging open. I shut it quickly.

"Speaking of Scott we really need to get him back home." Said Ororo.

"Alright. Later then." I sighed. I picked up Rain's empty bowl and started for the sink. I was disappointed now. They were actually nice people. Maybe, Scott was a nice person too.

"Mae…" said Ororo. "We want you to come with us."

I spun around. "Excuse me?"

"We want you to come with us. To the school." She gestured to the apartment. "Is this really the best thing for Rain?"

My face twisted. She just played her strongest hand. Dang it. "I've been taking care of her fine." I snapped.

"Yes, you have. However, Mae, a school. With peers who understand what's happening to her. Training to help control her powers."

"You'd let me come too? I'm not a mutant."

"We could find a place for you there. Rain needs an education. Xavier can give her that."

"I don't have any money." I warned. I couldn't believe I was actually considering this.

"There is no tuition fee. If you feel strongly about it, however, there are jobs you may take around the mansion."

"Mansion?" I asked incredulously.

Hank nodded.

"What's the catch?" I inquired.

"Catch?" Ororo asked.

"Yeah, the catch. What do you want in return? What's in it for you?"

"Mae, we've dedicated our—."

"Answer the question."

"Come speak to the Professor. He'll explain everything."

"If we decide not to you'll bring us back?"

"Yes."

"Back right here?"

"Yes."

I took a long shaky breath. Blowing it out slowly I thought. This might be an amazing opportunity for Rain. I wouldn't want to waste it. I closed my eyes.

"Fine. Give us five minutes."

They smiled kindly at me and walked back into the bedroom with Scott.

"Rain. Baby. We're going to go with these people to see a school for you okay?"

She nodded. "Don't worry Mommy. Everthing's gonna be fine."

I smiled at her butchered English. "Okay babe. Let me get the bag." I walked into the bathroom and grabbed a lone hair-tie quickly pulling my long brown hair up in a high ponytail. I reached under the sink and grabbed the large black bag that hid under there. More than once we'd been left with nothing for several reasons. So now I always packed a bag that I could pick up and run with. I dragged it out into the main room and swung it up on the table. Hank walked out in his human form with Scott in his arms.

"You're ready?" he asked bewildered.

"I was born ready!" I said smiling. 'Course I didn't know when I was born so….ah well. As we walked out the door, I suddenly got the feeling that I'd never see this apartment again.

I liked it.


	3. Charlie

I had never been on a plane before, not that I could remember at least

I had never been on a plane before, not that I could remember at least. But, this machine was much more than that. It was a jet. A Blackbird, Ororo told me. After I made sure Rain was strapped in safely, I struggled with my own buckles.

When they had come for Scott, they had needed to set the plane down in a safe secure location. Since it was in the middle of LA, they found that difficult. So Hank and Ororo had ended up renting a car to drive down from way up north. It was interesting getting five people into one small Nissan. Ororo drove and Scott was in the passenger seat. Hank sat next to me in the back while Rain sat on my other side. I indulged myself in a small pout. I wanted the window seat.

We got to the Blackbird about an hour after that. Then powering up the super-jet had taken nearly another hour. I hadn't eaten and that was a very good thing. When the jet took off any breakfast I might have eaten would've been lost.

It took us about 30 minutes to get to New York.

"Here we are Mae. Mae?" Hank looked at me in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah…yeah sure I'm fine…"

He looked at Ororo who was still powering down the huge machine.

"Mae. Let go."

"Whu--?" I looked down surprised at how hard my hands were grabbing the armrests. My knuckles were white and my fingers ached. I unclenched them slowly. Wincing I flexed my fingers as Hank helped he out of the seat.

He smiled kindly. "A bit overwhelming isn't it?"

I kept my face impassive. "I guess. You alright, sweetie?"

Rain was just a bubble of joy. "Wow, Mae that was so cool!" she giggled.

"Kids." I muttered much to Hank's amusement.

"Kids, indeed." He agreed. "And there are plenty of children on the campus. We'll find you a suitable room and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. I haven't agreed to anything. Let me talk to this 'Professor' guy."

Hank nodded. "Follow me then." I grabbed Rain's hand and followed him out of the hangar.

The mansion was amazing. We walked briskly down long ornate hallways with dark wood paneling and high ceilings. Several kids ran past us excitedly shouting something about soccer. At the end of one hallway just past the stairs, Hank opened a door. He stepped over the threshold and I pulled Rain along with me. There were two men inside not counting Hank. One was sitting behind a desk. He looked old and bald. Nevertheless, he simply oozed authority.

The other was completely his opposite. Slouched in his chair, wild unkempt hair, he screamed troublemaker. I liked it. They both turned in our direction as we walked in. The bald one smiled and waved his hand inviting us in further. Rain let go of my hand and I dropped hers crossing my arms in front of chest. Now was not the time to feel insecure. The wild hair guy turned and our eyes locked. Dark hazel eyes that seemed to look through me rooted me in place. I felt several emotions shooting through me. Love, loss, fear, safety, all because of this man. Why? I was vaguely aware of Rain peeking at him from around my legs. Then like a bullet out of a gun, she was at his side.

"Daddy?" she asked him eyes big.

He tore his eyes from mine and looked down at her in disbelief.

"Daddy?" she asked again.

"I ain't yer friggin' father kid." He said gruffly.

"Don't swear at her." I started angry.

He scowled. "'Friggin'' ain't a swear word."

"C'mere baby." She ran back to me and buried her face in my hip.

"Logan, please." Said the bald guy. 'Logan' scowled. It seemed to be his favorite expression. "Back Hank? I assume you found him."

Hank nodded. "Yes Professor. These young ladies had given him shelter. When we discovered that the child was a mutant, we offered them a place here." Hank was twisting the knob on his watch turning back to his blue self as he spoke.

I felt a headache starting. It felt a little weird, but I rubbed my temple a little and it eased somewhat.

"What about their parents?" he asked.

I cleared my throat. "We don't have parents. Not that we know about."

"Forgive me my dear. My name is Professor Xavier."

I was startled as he rolled out from behind the desk. He was in a wheelchair. He stopped in front of me and held out his hand. I shook it.

"What are your names?" he asked looking from me to Rain.

"I'm Mae. And this is Rain."

"Nice to meet you." He said rolling behind his desk again.

"I was told that this was a school for mutants." I said carefully. "And that it was open to everyone."

"Yes. It is. What is your power?"

"I don't have one." I said. "At least I don't think I do. Rain's a healer."

At that, the Logan man jumped to his feet.

"What?" he growled.

I pushed Rain behind me.

"Logan." Said the Professor in a warning voice.

"What's wrong with her being a healer?" I demanded stepping toe to toe with him. He snarled looking down at me menacingly. "Cut the crap!" I said. "Sit your butt down." I heard a ringing sound and jumped as six knives shot from his closed fists. I stood my ground.

"Who are you?" he growled.

"My name is Mae."

"Where do I know you from?" he demanded.

"I've never seen you before!" I responded.

He was spitting mad. In a split second, he had me up against the wall by my throat.

"Logan!" shouted Hank. My feet were nearly a foot off the floor.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Logan roared. He brought his claws to my face. "I remember your smell I just can't remember from where." He growled in my ear.

"Daddy, daddy put mommy down!" Rain screamed. Tears blurred my vision and I choked spastically worrying more about Rain than myself. She flung herself at him and hugged his leg fiercely.

"Please! Please Daddy don't hurt her!"

I scrabbled at his hand cutting my fingers on his claws. The blood only seemed to enrage him further. I could kick him if Rain moved. On the other hand, I could gouge his eyes out. I reached out trying to hit him, but I was loosing strength fast. My hand ended up just resting on his cheek. Black spots appeared in my vision and there was a peculiar rushing in my ears. Suddenly I was falling. I hit the floor hard and coughed as cool air rushed into my lungs.

"Mae?" It was Hank. He rolled me over.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." I croaked. I struggled to sit up. I got to my knees and stood shakily holding onto Hank for support. Logan was still there, face blank, on the other side of the room. I gulped a couple of deep breaths before turning to him.

"I'm not afraid of you." His face was bloody from where I touched him. Rain was next to him holding his hand. He yanked his hand out of hers and stalked out. I collapsed in his chair.

"I am terribly sorry." Said the Professor. "I cannot excuse his behavior, but there is an explanation. He is not usually violent. Well," he amended. "Not quite so violent."

"I don't want to hear his excuse." I said quietly. "Sorry, I bled on your floor."

A small smile tugged on one side of the Professors mouth. "It's quite all right my dear. Worse things have happened to this floor."

I looked up curiously. Rain crawled into my lap and clung to me. "Baby don't even think about it." I said. She whined, obviously upset. "So…" I said lightly tearing the bottom of my shirt apart without thinking about it. It was a long shirt. "Convince me to stay here." I said wrapping my hands in the dirty pieces of shirt. Both Hank and the Professor were looking at my hands incredulously. I realized what I had done and shrugged. "What?"

Hank shook his head while the Professor started to speak. "It would be very beneficial to Rain to stay in an environment where she is among…" The headache was coming back. Maybe it was the after effect of lack of food and then near strangulation. It started at my temple and slowly pushed its way through my head to form a bar through my brain. I couldn't hear what the Professor was saying anymore. There was something there! Behind my eyes, that was pushing to get out. I clutched at Rain almost convulsively.

"Mae? Mae-Mae what's wrong?"

"Ow." I scratched out. My throat was closed up. A thought occurred to me beneath the haze of pain. "What are you doing to me?" I whispered. The Professor was looking at me curiously. He folded his hands and closed his eyes concentrating on something. Someone. _Me_.

"Mae?" I heard Hank's voice distantly. "Are you alright?"

"Rain. Rain, baby run!" I pushed her off me and towards the door.

**NO!** Someone shouted. I covered my ears. The sound was so loud I thought my ear drums would burst.

**Don't let her go!** The voice commanded. I reached out and snatched Rain's collar.

"Wait…wait. Who are you?"

**You mean you don't remember me. **The voice asked a little forlorn sounding.

"Who are you talking to? Professor!" cried Hank.

"No."

**My name is Charlie. **

"What? How are you doing this? Where are you?"

**I'm dead. At least, my body is. I'm in your head. Mae, believe what these people say. You're in danger. You're a mutant! **

"This is crap. In danger from who? If you're dead, how are you in my head? What's going ON?" I shouted. I was outside the Professor's office now. My voice echoed down the hallway. Hank was following me closely.

**You have to listen to me…**

"I don't have to do anything. Shut up."

**Mae, please, you…**

"NO! OKAY? NO! JUST SHUT UP!"

**I know it's crazy, but you have to. For your sake. For Rain's sake. **

"It hurts!" I howled. Then the polished wood floor was rushing up to meet me and there was nothing but cool, clean, silent darkness.


	4. MedLab

I woke slowly

I woke slowly. First, my smell; clean, antiseptic, someone stunk. Probably me. Next, the sound came back. Someone was breathing softly and a machine whirred in the background. My sight was last. Eyes heavy, head pounding, I opened my eyes. I immediately closed them with a groan. There were bright florescent lights directly above me. The light pierced through my eyelids and sent jolts of pain through my skull.

"And she awakens." Said a voice to my right.

I turned my head carefully and opened one eye.

"Hank?" I asked. My voice sounded weird.

"Yes, indeed. As well as being the Secretary of Mutant Affairs and a teacher at this school, I am also the resident doctor."

I blinked lazily. "What a mouthful." I slurred. "When do you sleep?"

He chuckled. "I find time."

"That's insane." I paused. "Why does my voice sound so funny?"

"My dear, it has been a taxing twenty-four hours for you. I wouldn't have been surprised if you didn't have any voice at all or slept for another day."

I frowned. "How long was I out?"

He tapped his chin in thought. "Hmmm…approximately eighteen hours."

"Wow. What does 'approximately' mean?"

He chuckled again. "Don't worry about it. How are you feeling?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Ah. I see."

"Yeah. I feel like someone shoved a spike through my brain." A sudden thought occurred to me. "What did he do to me? WHAT DID HE--?"

"Mae. Mae, calm down." He reached for my flailing hands. Locking my wrists together, he waited for me to calm down. After a moment, I regained control. "Charles didn't do anything to you."

**Yes he did.**

"What the…" I sighed roughly. "Who are you? Start from the beginning."

**My name is Charles…**

"Xavier?" I asked.

I thought I heard a sigh. **No silly girl. You usually call me Charlie. I'm your brother. **

I blinked.

"Mae?" asked Hank. "Who are you talking to?"

"My brother apparently. Prove it." I demanded from Charlie. Poor Hank looked thoroughly confused. "Not you." I told him. "The guy in my head."

"We only have one telepath at the mansion. Xavier. So how could you be contacting someone?"

I shrugged.

**Mae, look, I know this is confusing… **

"Don't think at me in that tone of voice!" I commanded.

Charlie sniggered. **Just settle down okay? You really need to take better care of yourself. **

"Oh, shut up." I said dismissively. "Just…explain some things to me."

**Not yet.** He said. **I want to wait until everyone who needs to hear this is together.**

"Whatever. But, you've got some explaining to do."

I heard him snort. It was an interesting sensation mentally. **Yes, Ma'am. **

I noticed something strange. When he was speaking it was as if everything was sharper. My smell, my sight, my hearing. And when he was quiet I felt/heard a buzzing in the back of my mind. I wondered what that was all about.

"Good. Now Hank," I said sitting up slowly. "Where's Rain?"

"At dinner, I believe. It's about that time."

"Oh, Hank!" I cried. "Did I keep you from dinner?"

"It was not a problem, Mae." He said with a smile. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving." I told him.

"When was the last time you ate?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. Lunch-time…two days ago, I think."

He turned to me eyes wide with disbelief. "My goodness. No wonder you passed out."

I made a dismissive noise and inspected my hands. Hank had wrapped them in thick gauze to cover the cuts I had gotten from that man Logan. They were sore and stiff. The pain in my head was receding steadily, though. _Thanks, Charlie._ I thought with a sigh. **You're welcome.** He whispered. My eyebrows shot up. So I could communicate with him in my mind. Interesting. I swung my feet off the side of the table**. **

"Oh no you don't." Hank said pushing my back gently. "I'll bring you some food in a minute."

"But, Hank…" I whined. "I'm fine."

"Are you now?" he asked smiling. "No, I'd like to keep you over night at least. I'll let you go when you wake up in the morning."

I pouted, very Rain-like. "Fine." I said swinging my legs back up on the table.

Hank, making good on his promise, returned several minutes later with food. Sitting up, I bolted it down with an alarming ferocity.

"So where's Scott?" I inquired through a mouthful of food.

"He is recovering in that area." Hank said pointing over towards a section of the 'med lab' where curtains obscured everything from view.

"Ah. Ever figure out what attacked him? Looked like a bear did it. Or a savage dog." I said between gulps of water.

"Something like that. We've concluded that it was a mutant named Sabertooth. Scott woke up for a minute earlier, when you were asleep, but is out again."

"A person did that?" I asked incredulously, eyeing the curtain. Unconsciously I realized I was referring to both Scott and the curtains. It was a bright, almost florescent, green. Puke green. Did people think that was soothing? I never understood that. And they always painted hospital walls the same color too…

"...much like Logan." Hank concluded. I blinked. What?

"What about Logan?" I asked confused.

"I said that Sabertooth displays a violent feral side much like Logan." He repeated.

"What's 'feral'?" I asked feeling stupid.

Hank grinned at me. "It is of no consequence. Now if you are done with that I believe it would be best if you went to sleep." He took the tray, checked me over one more time, and padded over to where Scott supposedly lay. I settled back on the hard cold table and made a despairing humming noise in the back of my throat. I couldn't sleep on my back.

After several hours of fitful sleep - flashes of nightmares kept popping up behind my eyes, but nothing solid - Hank walked in with his usual jovial attitude. "Good Morning, Mae." He said helping me sit up. "Did you sleep well?"

I yawned hugely. "Well, it's not the worst sleep I've ever gotten." I said.

"Jean?" we heard a voice say. "Jean?!"

Hank muttered 'Oh, dear' and walked briskly to the bright sickening green curtain. I hopped off the table and stumbled-my knees felt like jelly-and walked to Hank's side. I found myself gazing down at Scott who had just woken up. His messy brown hair stuck up comically, but that was the only thing remotely funny. His face was warped with sorrow and agony. Hank was talking him out of his sleepy haze.

"Thanks, Hank." Scott said moving to stretch his left arm and wincing.

"Hello, Scott!" I said brightly, trying to copy Hank's cheerfulness. He did a double take and his mouth twisted uncertainly.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

My smile slipped a little. I suppose he wouldn't remember he had been unconscious for his entire visit. "Ummm…kind of. I guess not. My name is Mae." I said sticking out my hand gingerly. "I kind of…found you…and I…." I rolled my eyes frustrated that I couldn't get the words out. "You explain it!" I said irritated to Hank. "It was nice to finally talk to you Scott." I said and turned on my heel. I noticed belatedly that someone - possibly Hank - had removed my shoes. So instead of turning as I expected I spun in a grand manner throwing up my arms to try to catch myself before landing hard on the floor. I scrambled up, smoothed out my clothes, and walked out the door.

Until I realized I had no idea where I was going.

I stuck my head back through the door, embarrassed, to see Hank wearing a small sympathetic smile. "Ummmm…" I started. "Where…?"

"Don't worry Mae." He said. "I'll have one of the students escort you to a room."

"Where are my shoes?" I asked looking around curiously.

"They are in the corner along with your bag." He said gesturing to the far corner. "Now wait a moment and let me call Rogue." I nodded and searched for my shoes. As I pulled the ratty things on he seemed to think hard about something then smiled. "Professor Xavier will send her down momentarily." I jumped back on the table fingering the strap of my bag a little nervously.

"All right." I said.

"Don't worry she is quite nice."

I shrugged. "Whatever."

Minutes later a girl appeared and walked up to me. "Hi." She said enthusiastically. "You must be Mae. Mah name's Rouge."

"Hello." I said back to her shaking her outstretched hand. She had on gloves which I thought was a little strange, but who knew in this place. She also had a great southern accent which I found very amusing. And I told her so too. She laughed and led me out of the med lab. "Later Hank! Bye, Scott!" And we were out the door.


	5. Rogue and Remy

"So

"So. Is…uh…Rogue your real name?" I asked her, trying to make conversation. I was so uncomfortable it was laughable.

"Pretty much." She said. "It's the name I gave myself when I ran away. So, to me, it's real."

"Ah." I said.

She looked back to see if I was keeping up. "Is Mae your real name? It's cute."

"Ummm….thanks." I said shifting the strap of the bag on my shoulder then wincing as it disturbed the bandages on my fingers. "I'm almost certain it's mine. It sounds the tiniest bit off, but that's what I've gone by for as long as I can remember."

"You can't remember?" she asked, sounding a bit alarmed.

"No. It's…well it's a long story."

I blinked as we were suddenly in the middle of a very crowded play room. The TV was blaring, there was a stereo playing somewhere, and kids were shouting and laughing back and forth as they played various games. Foosball, air hockey, pool, and a game machine. Rogue pulled me along with her as she pushed her way carefully through the room. People seemed to give her a lot of room.

I tried to maneuver my bag carefully so I didn't hit anyone. She finally stopped at the pool table and walked up to a boy who was shooting. Distracting him by kissing him on the shoulder the shot went wide and he swore angrily. Until he turned and saw who it was.

"'Ey baby." He smiled broadly and kissed the top of her head.

"Hey Remy. Mae," she said pulling me up in front of them. "this is Remy, my boyfriend. Remy, this is Mae, she's going to be a new student here, I think."

I tried to protest as he took my hand gently and kissed the top of it. Amazingly he missed the hurt parts.

"'Ello, chere. Nice to meet you."

I looked at Rogue uncomprehendingly. Wasn't he her boyfriend? Did kissing someone's hand count as cheating? But, she rolled her eyes and slugged him lightly on the shoulder. He had dark brown hair and a funny accent. But, the coolest thing about him was his eyes. His irises, instead of being normal brown, green, or blue, were a deep red color. I tried not stare and forced myself to look away.

"I actually…" I started to explain, but another person bounded up excitedly.

"Hey guys!" She said popping her gum loudly. Everything about her was loud. She had on a very bright yellow coat which blinded me for a second. "Bobby and John are about to arm wrestle. Wanna make a bet?"

Rogue scoffed. "Sure. I wonder who will win!" she said mockingly.

I gathered that this was a regular event.

"Oh, hey!" the girl said turning to me. She had petite Asian features, but shocking blue eyes. "Are you new here? 'Cause I've never seen you before."

"Ummm…yeah. Me and my little sister might be staying here for a while."

"Oh, cool." She said sticking out her hand. "My names Jubilee. Jubilation Lee actually, but everyone here calls me Jubilee or Jubes. Or… ya know I've got a lot of different nicknames." She said trailing off as if mentally counting all of her assorted names.

"Jubes," said Rogue playfully. "Did you have any soda today?"

"Well, duh." Jubilee said back to her. "Everyone drinks soda."

I felt my heart sink. I'd never had soda before. At least, not that I could remember. Rogue must have seen the look on my face because she quickly excused us.

"The Professor is clearing out a room for you, but for now, you can chill in my room." She opened the dark wooden door and ushered me in. "Once you get cleaned up it'll be about time for lunch so you can come down and eat." She walked back towards the door.

"Wait!" I said. "Where's Rain?"

"Who?" she asked.

I felt the panic building. "Little girl…dark hair, hazel eyes, cutest thing in the world…"

"Oh, Rain!" Rogue said laughing. "She's downstairs. Probably with Ororo. There aren't any kids her age here. The youngest is 9 and he doesn't speak. So we thought 'Ro could baby-sit her until you got better. Then we could figure something out."

"Ok." I said breathing out a sigh of relief.

"I'll see you later." She said.

Then she was gone.

I looked around the room. There were two beds one in each of the far corners. One had a deep green comforter while the other had a bright yellow one. So Rogue shared a room with Jubilee. That was cool. Along the wall I was closest to was a closet and in the other corner. A door. Hopefully leading to a bathroom. I carefully picked my way through the chaotic room heading for the door. I opened it and sighed in relief. It was albeit a messy bathroom, but it would work.

I dropped my bad on the floor and cleared a space on the counter. I hopped up and got fairly comfortable. Peeling the bandages away from my fingers I grimaced.

_Don't cry, don't cry!_ I willed myself. It was a struggle.

**Mae, I'm sorry. **I heard Charlie say.

_It's not your fault._ I told him.

**I know. **He said. **But, I wish I could help.**

I got the numerous wrappings off and inspected my hands. They were raw and red and threatened to bleed at the least pressure. This was going to hurt. Flexing my fingers carefully I slid off the counter and turned on the shower.

An hour later I felt much better. My hands had stung and burned as I washed myself, but there was no lasting damage. I got the worst tangles out of my hair and pulled it into a sloppy high ponytail. I walked out changed and ready to see Rain. It would be even better if I could confront Logan, the idiot, and yell at him for damaging my hands. After I had been wandering the hallways for a couple minutes I believed I was completely lost. Oh well. I was content to drift for the moment.

Rain really did need a home. An actual honest to God home where we wouldn't get kicked out on a moments notice. And this seemed like a nice enough place. She'd been taken care of while I was incapacitated and I had been well taken care of too. But, what was the catch? There had to be some big secret. Some…inexcusable thingy. Because there was no way we had found this place. I remember someone telling me 'If it looks too good to be true, it is.' The only thing was I couldn't remember _who_ had said it.

**His name was Harry. **Said Charlie.

_Whu--?_ "Oomph!" I was shaken roughly out of musings as someone slammed a door into my face. I fell backwards and screeched as my hands hit the floor.

"I'm sorry!" said a deep voice. I looked up and saw a very big man standing in front of me. He offered me a hand up and, without thinking, I grabbed it. He pulled me up and I recoiled slightly. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Ow." I said cradling my hands to my chest.

"Please, forgive me, I did not realize you were behind the door."

"I'm fine, really." I said.

"There you are!" exclaimed a voice behind me. It was Rogue. "Well I see you've met Peter."

"Nice to meet you Peter." I said inclining my head.

"What is your name?" he asked. He had an accent too, Russian I think.

"Mae."

"C'mon guys it's time for lunch. I'm starvin'." Rogue said leading me off. Peter followed smiling.

She led us down the right series of halls and finally broke into what I assumed was the kitchen.

"Our usual cook is out so we'll have to scavenge today. That all right with you?" Rogue asked.

"There's a cook?" I asked. Peter nodded.

"He's a great guy. Him and his wife live a little ways a way in the forest. He comes up to the mansion and cooks. He also teaches a defense class when Logan isn't around. But, he's got a cold."

"Yeah," said Rogue. "We all call him Uncle Bud. He's got a limp though. Everyone has a different idea of how he got it because he never confirms anything. John thinks he's an ex-football player. Bobby says he was in a skiing accident."

"I think he's ex-military." Said Peter.

Rogue nodded. "His wife is great too. Auntie Terry. She usually just comes to hang out with him, but I hear she helps the Prof. with money stuff. And sometimes when we tear something in our clothes she fixes it."

Peter dropped his voice. "I hear Bud's got a temper, though. Almost as bad as Logan's."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. "Really? Wow, that's sayin' somethin'." She said opening the fridge.

We had just finished our sandwiches when Ororo and Rain walked in.

"Mommy!" squealed Rain and she jumped on me.

"Hey baby. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Are you still hurted?"

I shook my head smiling. "Nope. All better."

But, it fell flat as she gave me a look. The look that said I-may-be-six-but-I-can-still-tell-when-you're-lying-to-me.

"It doesn't hurt that bad. Don't even think about it."

She pouted prettily.

"Was she okay last night?" I asked Ororo.

"She was fine. A little concerned for you, but after a while she fell asleep."

I nodded. "Where can we sleep tonight?"

"A room has been cleared out for you. Does this mean you intend to stay?"

I nodded wearily. "Yeah. Rain has to be in a safe place. And I…" I trailed off looking out the window.

_I have to figure out what the hell's wrong with me._

**Nothing's wrong with you, Mae.** Said Charlie.

I jumped. "Jeeze." I muttered. "Give a girl some warning." Everyone was looking at me oddly except Rain who had slid off my lap and was humming to herself. "Charlie." I said. When they still looked blank I simply said "Later." They shrugged off their curiosity and conversation started again.


	6. Logan

Some minutes after that Ororo tilted her head up as if hearing something only she could hear. "The Professor would like to have that meeting now if that's okay."

I nodded and gulped. "Sure. C'mere sweetie." I said to Rain. I held her hand as I followed Ororo closely. Peter and Rogue trailed behind us chattering in low voices. The office was the same and any blood that I may have dripped on the carpet yesterday was gone. Xavier, Logan, and Remy were inside waiting for me.

Ororo went in first, then me, then Rogue. Rogue sat on Remy's lap and Logan scowled at them. I felt very self-conscious as I sat in the lone chair that happened to be in the middle of the room. I felt like a very bright spotlight had been set up right above me.

"Ummm…" I said. "Hi, everybody."

Someone chuckled.

Professor Xavier rolled around to be in front of me. "Don't worry. I was wondering if you'd like to share your past with us or if I may search your mind."

"My mind?" I asked.

"Yes. Only if you wish me to."

A voice a thousand times louder than a normal human screamed in my brain.

**NO!**

"Charlie!" I moaned.

I saw Xavier wince. "I take that as a no." he said scooting his wheelchair back several inches.

**I'm sorry Mae. Knee-jerk. You can't have telepaths in your mind. **

"Why not?" I asked. I was vaguely aware of everyone watching me with interest.

**I don't want them to. It's not good for us. **

"Fine, whatever. Just…don't shout."

**Sorry. **

I shrugged. "It happens." I thought about that for a second. 'It happens.'? Yeah, like dead brothers shout in everyone's head.

Xavier cleared his throat. "What can you tell me?" he asked.

"Not much. I don't know when I was born or where. I don't know where I was when I woke up." I shrugged. "It's blank."

Xavier's lips thinned as he considered me. "Hmmm. And Rain was there?"

I nodded. "The place we were in was destroyed. It might have been a house at one point."

"Ah." He said frowning. "What is your gift?"

"Gift?" I asked. "I don't think I have one. Rain is the one with the powers. Where is she by the way?"

"I'll find her." Offered Ororo as she walked out the door.

**Mae. You do have powers. I've just been blocking them. **

"Why?"

"What?" asked Rogue.

"Charlie says that he's been blocking my powers. Why, Charlie?"

**Your gift is powerful. It's dangerous to you and everyone. **

I felt my heart beating faster. I was a mutant.

"What's my power?" I asked.

**It'll be easier if I show you. Be careful I'm going to let down the shields. I'm not exactly sure what will happen.**

"He says he's letting down the shields. Get ready."

"What's going to happen?" asked Rogue.

"I don't know." I responded. I settled myself in the chair. "Okay. Go." Then the world changed.

There was a bright light around each person. Green around Rogue, pink around Remy, red around Logan, and gray around Xavier.

"Wow!" I breathed amazed. It was beautiful. The colors seemed to pulse and swirl around their owners. There seemed to be music coming from somewhere. Then a wave of emotion crashed into me. Gasping I tried to sort them out frantically. Curiosity was the majority of it, a tinge of fear, and an emotion that I couldn't place. I stood abruptly and threw myself at Logan capturing his mouth with mine. He was clearly startled, as his aura (?) pulsed at me. However, he didn't object as I wove my hands in his hair and pulled him closer. He fell off the edge of the desk and slammed hard into the floor. I don't think either one of us noticed. I felt Charlie hastily throw up the mental wall and crash it down hard. I blinked in surprise at Logan. He looked a little dizzy.

"Whoa." I heard Remy say. He sounded a long way off.

"Charlie!" I said untangling myself from Logan.

He looked upset. "What the hell!"

**Sorry, Mae, I'm sorry. I didn't realize— **

"I don't care; put it back!" I ordered.

Charlie mental voice faltered. **What?**

"You heard me. Why did you keep me from that? It was beautiful!"

Xavier's eyebrows rose at me. "What did you see? What happened?"

"Why did you do that?" demanded Logan talking over Xavier. He got up and dusted himself off.

"I…I don't know…there was something…it called to me and it was so pretty…" I said dreamily.

**You're an Empath. It means you feel and – eventually - manipulate other peoples emotion. **

"Charlie says I'm an Empath." I said. I felt a headache coming. Logan was glaring at the floor; the rest of them seemed bewildered.

"I found her." Said Ororo coming through the door with Rain in tow. She looked around the room and asked, puzzled, "What did I miss?"

Rain leaped at me and settled in my lap. I buried my face in her hair. Everything was so much simpler before. I felt like crying. There were still bits of everyone else's emotions shooting through me. I was angry as hell; concerned about something. In love, hating someone, sad, angry, all at the same time, it was giving me a headache. I wished I could see the colors again or hear the pretty music.

"Mae are you alright?" Xavier asked me.

My eyes were filled with tears as I lifted my head to look at him. "Ow." I said.

He smiled sympathetically. "I know. Empathy is much like Telepathy. Not the same, but similar."

I nodded.

Logan crossed his arms and scowled. "Great." He said staring at me. "Just what we need. Another friggin' telepath. Like we don't have enough already."

I frowned at him. "You act like it's my fault." I hissed at him. "I did that for a reason numb nuts." I looked him up and down wishing I could see his aura again. "You were obviously feeling that. So don't you dare blame me."

He stomped over in front of me and glared down menacingly. I moved Rain and stepped up toe to toe with him.

"Well this is familiar." I said mockingly. "Gonna choke me to death again?"

His eyes darkened. "Stay outta my head little girl." He warned. He stepped around me and opened the door.

"You liked it."

He paused then walked through the door and slammed it shut.

Xavier sighed and rubbed his temples. "Must you aggravate Logan?" he asked me.

"I'll be nice if he is." I said. I realized I was being childish, but I didn't care.

"What. Was. That." Said Rogue. "You just kissed…you kissed…" she said. Then started laughing so hard she had to hold onto Remy so she didn't fall over.

I blushed fiercely. "Yeah, well. It wasn't…really. I mean…" I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." I said turning away from her as she kept laughing.

"Sorry." She gasped at me trying to control herself.

"It's okay." I muttered pulling Rain back into my lap.

I heard Charlie sniggering.

_Oh, shut up._ I told him.

**That was great.** He said. I got a mental picture of Logan's face.

**He wasn't expecting that. To be frank, neither was I. **

_Yeah, well. Deal. And don't call me Frank._ He laughed outright at that and I knew dimly that it was from some movie. I just couldn't remember which. I thought of Logan again. He was an undeniably sexy beast. And I had the strangest feeling of familiarity around him. Maybe…just maybe I knew him from before.

**Sexy beast, huh?** Said Charlie mockingly. **Perhaps I've been in your mind too long, but he is quite handsome. In that rugged way, you know. A bit too hairy, but hey. To each his own. **Even that phrase sounded familiar.

_Oh!_ I exclaimed to Charlie. _By the way, who was Harry?_

**I can't remember. **He said maddeningly. **But, you knew him quite well. You thought he was cute, but you couldn't act on it for some reason. **His voice sounded tinged with anger. **This is horrible. It's there; it's on the tip of my tongue…but nothing. **

_We'll figure it out._

**I know that we're in trouble. We're running from something. Something dangerous. But I don't know who or how many or anything. **

_How dangerous?_

**The kind of dangerous that you don't want to be in the same country. **

I mulled it over. _Are we safe here?_

**Nowhere's safe.**

_Okaaay._ I drawled. _Are we relatively safe?_

**I guess.** He said reluctantly. **For the time being. But, I get the feeling that if you pull that stunt with Logan again you'll be in major danger of being gutted.** He laughed.

_Yeah, well. That won't be happening again anytime soon. The man hates my guts. I don't even know why._

**When I opened your powers,** he said, **I sensed attraction. But he seems - not afraid - but…wary or something. Like you're going to attack him at any moment.**

_It must be killing him._ I thought. _To be attracted to someone who doesn't know their own name. Or age. Hell, I could be twelve for all we know._

Charlie seemed to shake his head. **No. You're not that little. I don't think you're even a teenager. I'm not sure, but you seem older. **

_I guess we'll see._ I said. Xavier excused me soon after that. I grabbed Rain and walked to our new bedroom. My bag had been moved there and I collapsed on the freshly made bed. This was my new life. Did I like it? Or did it matter if I liked it or not? Whatever was best for Rain-that's what I would do. And right now, this was the best thing for her. So be it.


	7. Shower

**Okay everyone, I've completely redone everything so don't freak out. And, as a little treat, I updated the story alot early than I would have. Enjoy and don't forget to Review!**

**-quietcutie651**

I sat up in the bed abruptly. This was ridiculous. I had been trying to get to sleep for hours. Looking at the bright digital clock on the wooden nightstand was a mistake. 2:11. Rain was fast asleep the lucky girl.

I scooted out of bed and slipped on my socks. Opening the door quietly I stole out of the room and down the hall. I'd try to find a kitchen and maybe commandeer a bottle of water. As I snuck down the silent halls, I tried to memorize the different halls. If I wasn't careful, I'd get lost.

In another ten minutes, I decided I was definitely lost. I came into another room and looked around. It looked vaguely familiar. Had I been here before?

"Lost?" asked a gruff voice from nowhere.

I spun around in shock and nearly landed on my butt. Logan was standing near a window looking out into the night. There was a full moon out and now that he was out of the shadows, the moonlight threw his features out sharply. His eyes glowed darkly, glittering in the near pitch-black room.

"I was…uh…looking for the kitchen." I said lamely. "I couldn't sleep, you see, and I'm thirsty. So, could you…?" I trailed off looking at his expectantly. I don't know why. He had given me nothing but grief and a couple of interesting bruises and scars. Suddenly he stalked towards me. For such a big man he was surprisingly graceful. He walked with an animal's grace like a giant wolf.

I blinked and nearly missed it. One moment he was across the room - the next he was in front of me reaching out his hand to my face. I flinched away from it but his hand still caught my chin. He turned my face to the side gently and I stiffened expecting him to hit me. I flinched again as his other hand came up and skimmed my throat. I gulped harshly misunderstanding the situation. I realized that he was looking at my neck to see how badly he had hurt me.

The fact was that he had left large finger shaped bruises on my throat. They were ugly purple and blue and hurt like a – well, like something bad. I heard an odd sound that sounded like an animal in pain. Until I realized it was Logan. I turned to him eyeing him oddly. He looked away from my questioning gaze but I still caught the pained look on his face. He was upset that he'd hurt me.

He grabbed at my hands and inspected them next. He seemed to shake whatever he was feeling off and put his 'bad-' attitude back on.

"I'm…well I'm…" he sighed harshly. "Sorry." He grasped my shoulder and steered me out of the room. Keeping me in his steely grip, he walked me down the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Here." He said shoving a water bottle in my face. "Can ya find your way back?"

I nodded.

He looked at me.

"Well. Maybe. I'm pretty sure I can…"

His expression didn't change as he gripped my shoulder again and steered me out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

A minute later, we were in front of my room. He turned to leave.

"Wait!" I said. He looked back at me. What did I want to say? I rather forgot when he looked at me like that. He had pretty eyes. "Thank you." I offered lamely. He nodded then disappeared into the dark hallway. I dimly remember opening the door and putting the bottle on the nightstand. Then crawling into bed with Rain again, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until morning.

"C'mon Mae!" shouted a cheerful voice. "Time to get up!"

I rolled over to look at the person who defied the unwritten laws of teenager-dom. Never get up before 9:00 on a…what was today? Was it still the weekend? I'd lost track in the med-lab. I rolled too far, however, and hit the floor with a yelp. The person jumped back then crouched offering me a hand. I opened a bleary eye and just made out the bright yellow form of Jubilee.

"C'mon girl it's nearly seven! Gotta get up if you don't want the big bad Wolvie to come in and drag you out of bed. Believe me chica that happened to me once." She seemed to shudder at the memory. "It wasn't pretty. I was shootin' sparks, he was shootin' swear words." She nodded knowingly. "Yup, it'll be good for you if you get up now."

I stumbled to my feet and she pushed me in the bathroom.

"Fifteen minutes! 'Kay Mae?" she giggled. "Ah, that's rhymes! Anyways, fifteen minutes then I'm comin' in to get you!" she slammed the door shut and I dimly heard Rain getting up.

I stuck my head out of the bathroom. "Rain, baby. Make sure no one comes in okay?" she nodded and continued looking for a sock. "Under the bed sweetie." I said before shutting the door.

I came out of the bathroom a couple minutes later. I had wrapped my hair up so it didn't get wet but, lucky me, it still got wet. Well…damp. I opened the door, muttering to myself, and ran into something hard. I stumbled back into the doorframe and nearly dropped the towel. It was Logan. My mouth opened and closed several times.

"Get out!" I shrieked fully aware of my state of undress. And fully-er aware of his lingering gaze on the exposed skin. I hit at his arm futilely.

"I said get out! What, are you deaf? Get out!" He blinked down at me trying to push him back.

"Class started ten minutes ago." He said. He seemed completely unconcerned that I was on the rampage.

"Let me get dressed okay?" I demanded. "Then you can yell at me all you want. But, I'm kind of NAKED!"

"I don't mind." He said eyeing me again. I was furious. I stalked back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I pressed my ear up against the door. I heard a chuckle, the idiot, and then the door shut. I stuck my head out of the bathroom and was relieved to encounter an empty room. Swearing softly I picked out my clothes for the day and tried in vain to find the kitchen.

Rain was sitting at the table with Rogue, Jubilee, and Ororo when I finally found the dang place. She was having toast and I decided to follow her lead.

"So what happened to guarding the door?" I asked as I sat down next to her. She looked up at me innocently, said in her absolute cutest voice, "I forgot!", and went back to munching her toast. I rolled my eyes humorously. Rogue grinned at me while Jubilee shook her head despairingly.

"I told you didn't I?" she asked with worried eyes. "I told you what he'd do?"

My eyebrows shot up. "He does that often?" I inquired. "Wow. I bet he's popular."

Rogue giggled while Jubilee and Ororo exchanged a look. I gazed up at them with a mouthful of toast waiting for the gossip that would no doubt be coming. Rain ignored us all and sipped her milk sweetly.

"He's really not a bad man." Ororo said, but I got the feeling she said that about near everyone. "He does have a certain tendency to scare the students. And be a little…over-whelming in his teaching method."

I choked down my toast. "Well he doesn't scare me!" I announced defiantly. "And I can take whatever he can…dish…what are you guys looking at?" They were all staring at a spot over my shoulder, following a person, I assumed. I shrugged, took a sip of water, and turned.

And promptly spit it out all over myself.

It was Logan. But it couldn't have just been Logan, no! It had to be Logan with no shirt. Logan with-the-most-perfect-chest-in-the-history-of-ever. I watched the muscles in his back flex as he searched through the fridge. He leaned over and reached to the back. Sweet mother of God. He turned beer in hand, and stopped short, staring back at me.

"Kid," he said casually, recovering at once. "You seem to have sprung a leak." He grabbed a little rag off the counter and flung it at me. I scrambled to catch it and fumbled. When I looked up all I saw was his back as he walked out the door.

I turned back to the others and they were sniggering at me.

"Oh, shut up." I snapped mopping up my face with the dishrag. Jubilee was practically dancing in her chair. She started teasing me in a sing-song voice.

"You like him, you wanna kiss him, and you wanna go down and like his—."

"Jubilee!" said Ororo warningly.

Jubes tilted her head to the side in mock thought. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a Jubilee anywhere near that."

Rogue was trying to stifle her laughter. Ororo rolled her eyes and Jubilee beamed. Rain remained, as always, oblivious. I set the towel down on the table next to my plate. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and quickly ate the rest of my toast.

"Well if you three are done." I said mock-coldly. Rogue shook her head, still shaking with laughter. Jubilee soon joined her and the two clung to each other gasping for breath. Ororo smiled good-naturedly and threatened them with chores if they didn't get to their classes. The two sobered up rapidly. With a short 'Later, Mae' they were out the door.

"I'm so confused." I moaned slamming my forehead down on the table. The towel squelched wetly under my face. I wrinkled my nose in distaste and got up putting both the wet dishrag and my plate in the sink.

"You'll get used to it." Said Ororo. "Either that, or you'll go mad. You have to keep a sense of humor about you."

I laughed hollowly. "Har de har."

Ororo patted me on the back briefly then turned and went out the door. I went and sat back down next to Rain.

She imitated Ororo by patting me on the back. "'Sokay, Mommy."

I moaned and put my face in my hands. How had I gotten us into this mess?


	8. Lake

**Hello, everyone. I think I'm off restriction now, so I should be continuing on at a slightly faster pace. Reviews are VERY welcome!**

**-quietcutie651**

It was a little while later that I was actually motivated to move. I cleaned up after Rain and the two of us started to explore. The mansion seemed strangely quiet. It was eerie. As we passed a window and looked outside, I felt my jaw drop. It was _beautiful._ Gorgeous. The wind was making the trees sway and there were flowers everywhere.

The grounds were extensive and I could see the trees' leaves starting to turn colors. What was it now? August? September? Someone chuckled.

"It's September."

"Thanks." I said listlessly, not bothering to turn around. I stared out the window trying desperately to imprint the colors on my mind. It was important…but I didn't know why. I felt lost. Like I had woken up in the wrong lifetime.

"You know," continued the voice. "It's perfectly natural to miss your past. Even if you can't remember it."

I turned to snap at the person, but stopped short. I was in a room. How had I gotten here? I had been in the hallway, hadn't I? The room was white - almost blindingly white. I couldn't see the corners and couldn't make out any walls. It seemed to just….go on.

There was a man standing about two yards away from me. He was a very handsome boy, maybe 20, with black hair and ice blue eyes. He broke into a smile.

"Where am I?" I asked. I was surprised that I didn't sound angry or scared. Just curious.

"I was hoping you could tell me actually." He said amiably. He stepped closer. "This is your mind after all."

I felt my eyebrows raise. "Excuse me?"

"This is your mind Mae." He said again. "I was wondering," he continued. "If you might be so kind as to think us somewhere a bit more comfortable..."

I blinked at his choice of words. "What do you mean?" I asked thoroughly puzzled.

"Where are you most relaxed?" he inquired.

I contemplated that for a moment and then thought as hard as I could, squeezing my eyes shut. There was a faint pop and when I opened my eyes, we were sitting in a garden. Flowers of every color surrounded us as far as the eye could see. There was a lake a ways off. It was bright -early morning I thought- and there was a swinging wooden bench beckoning us.

I looked at the man and the man looked at me. Then laughing we both raced for the seat. We collapsed on the bench still giggling. Suddenly the man wrapped his arms around me.

"Oh, Mae, I missed you so much!" Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I should be alarmed. But, I wasn't.

"I missed you too." That was for sure. As soon as I hugged him back, I felt a huge weight lift off my heart. "If you don't mind me asking," I said looking out at the scenery. "Who are you? And where are we?"

"I'm Charlie." He said frowning a little. A light clicked in my head.

"Ah! Of course!" I cried and hugged him again squeezing tighter. "It's so good to know what you look like." I said taking in his features.

High cheekbones, pale, blue eyes - I knew for some reason they got darker and brighter depending on his mood - . He had a small mouth that seemed to like to smile. His hair never seemed to want to keep still. It was always blowing in the breeze or he was running his hand through it. He was a tall boy at 21 - I don't know how I knew I just….knew- and was very, not muscular, but lean. With a sharp nose and an equally sharp mind, he usually had all the girls running after him. Again, I didn't know how I knew.

"So," I said looking around again. "Where are we?"

He looked around too, almost cautiously. "I'm not sure." He said. I loved hearing his actual voice. It was very musical -he probably sang. Although, I thought, I might not actually be hearing his voice.

"This is your mind Mae-Mae." He said ruffling my hair. "You must know this place from somewhere."

I shrugged and looked around bewildered. "I've never been here."

"You must have…even if you can't remember."

"I don't think so. It's far too pretty." I protested.

"A pretty place for a pretty girl." He murmured.

"You smooth talker you." I said playfully. "What do you want?"

His face filled with sadness, his eyes with clouds. I regretted my words. His face cleared rapidly and it was as if the sun came out again.

"I'm an older brother." He said nudging me. "I get to do that."

I harrumphed and crossed my arms. But, my heart wasn't in it.

"So why'd you bring me here?" I asked. He stood and motioned for me to follow. I did stuffing my hands in my pockets.

"You need to learn to defend yourself." He said finally. We were walking on a stone path down to the lake. I inhaled deeply, forgetting his words for a moment. The sky was clear, except for a few cute fluffy marshmallow clouds and the water called to me. "Mae." He said a little sharply.

"Sorry." I replied. "Go on."

"It's important that you learn now." He said firmly stopping and turning to face me. I can only teach you so much from here, but I've sensed things and it'll be good for you to learn as much as you can."

"Sensed?" I asked following a monarch butterfly's progress. "You know that you're a mutant." He said starting to walk down the path again. I hurried to follow.

"Well, I'm a mutant too. My power is…hard to explain." I grinned at him walking to the end of the little dock. "It's…like seeing into the future." He said following my lead. "Only instead of seeing it, or hearing it, I feel it." I turned to him. "My power is weakened in this state." He said sounding depressed.

"What state?" I asked pulling off my shoes.

He smiled grimly at me. "Dead." My eyes widened. "And in your mind." He continued watching my movements. "It's not a problem. It just…it's difficult."

I pulled off my other sock and dipped my toes into the water. It was perfect.

"I've sensed…hurt…and pain coming your way." He said. I felt his eyes boring through the back of skull. "I don't know where and I don't know who…but you've got to learn to defend yourself in all the ways."

"All the ways?" I repeated pulling my feet back up on the deck. "How many ways are there?"

"Physically," he said tallying them off on one hand. "Mentally, emotionally, powerfully. People argue that there are many more, but we're not all that religious. Bit ironic really." He frowned again.

"Why is it ironic?" I asked.

His frown deepened. "I can't remember."

We sat in silence for a moment after that revelation.

"And we can't remember where this is?" I asked waving my hand out. It was really a wonderful place. Were these what people's happy places looked like? Or were they just… I lost my train of thought as my eyes landed on Charlie.

"No." he said despairingly.

"Can we play this time?" I asked. He looked up curiosity bright in his eyes. "Play. Instead of train. Can we? Just this once."

He grinned and stood. "Alright," he said closing his eyes. "But, just this once." Then he was flying over my head. He landed in the water with a splash that soaked me from head to toe. I half shrieked half laughed and pushed my hair out of my eyes. His head bobbed up from under the water.

"Come one Mae!" he shouted. He reached up and grabbed the end of the dock pulling himself up and resting on his arms. He was half-out of the water and I leaned over the edge in surprise.

"Where are your clothes?" I asked in awe. He was wearing a pair of bright blue boxers, but his shirt and pants were nowhere to be seen.

"I thought them away." He answered. "Try it! Just think about what you want and you'll get it. It's your mind you can do what you please." I thought hard about a bathing suit and smiled widely when one appeared on me. I stood and looked down at myself. I smiled at him and jumped over his head. While in the water, I started to think of a floaty.

But, my thoughts were cut off as something jammed through my skull. I gasped and sucked in what felt like a gallon of water. I tried to get to the surface. It was just there! I felt my fingertips break the top of the lake, but something seemed to drag me down. I was drowning! I worked harder my legs kicking wildly, lungs burning, vision starting to fade.

Is this how I would end? All my hard work for nothing? What about Rain, would the X-Men take care of her? Would I become a prisoner, trapped in someone else's mind? I welcomed the blackness as it came, my own thoughts too much for me now. Sleep, my mind said to me. Dream happy dreams.


	9. Interlude

**Sorry for the short chapter, but you know the dealio. I haven't really been able to sit down and write for a while, but I hope that will change soon. Remember my lovelies, reviews are cherished. **

**-quietcutie651**

I was being smothered. That's what the problem was. I tried to breathe but nothing happened. Voices shook me out of the darkness.

"She's coming around."

"Is she okay?"

"Mae? Mae look at me dammit!"

"Open your eyes!"

"Calm down give her space."

"Let her breathe."

"Mommy?"

My eyes shot open and I sat up knocking foreheads with someone.

"Ow." They said, but I was too busy barfing my guts out to apologize.

My vision cleared and I blinked wearily at the people surrounding me. Hank was to the left, Xavier at the foot of the med-lab table – for that's where I was, the med-lab - Peter to the right, and Logan leaning over me rubbing his forehead. I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out was a croak. I tried again.

"Hi, guys." I rasped.

"What the hell happened?" demanded Logan. I shook my head slowly.

"You're too loud."

"Logan, let her be." Said Hank placing a calming hand on his shoulder.

Logan shook off the doctor's hand angrily. He stalked out of sight, but if I turned my head, I could make out his form, sulking in a dark corner.

"Are you alright?" asked Peter.

"Peachy." I answered. I still felt like there was water in my lungs. Or maybe it was all in my head. As I thought about it, the pain cleared away, my throat returning to normal and my stomach settling.

"Ah. That's better." I closed my eyes sighing contentedly.

"What happened?" asked Xavier.

"I was talking to my dead brother when I jumped in an imaginary lake and nearly drowned." I said lightly.

I wondered if I just imagined his eye twitching. "I see."

"No, really," I relented. I told them of the journey through my mind with Charlie. "Then I started to drown. I don't know why that happened."

Xavier looked grim as he revealed, "I believe that was me. I was worried and attempted to enter your mind. It doesn't seem to like me." It wasn't quite a 'sorry' but how could one apologize for something like that? 'Oh, yes, I'm sorry that I tried to read your mind and you nearly drowned in an imaginary lake'. Right.

Hank took the opportunity to shoo them out of the med-lab. Logan didn't strike me as the type of man that could be shooed, but he left after a minute.

"Are you feeling better, Mae?"

"Slightly." I admitted. "Do I have to spend the night again? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love sleepovers, but this is a little much."

He smiled toothily at me. It would have been scary on someone else. On Hank, it was pleasantly different.

"No. You can go to dinner tonight."

"Oh, goody." I said.

**Mae?** I heard Charlie's mind voice. I felt better now that I could match a face with the sound. **Are you really all right?**

_I'm fine Charlie. Nothing's wrong with me and – oh joy - I get to have dinner tonight._

He seemed to mind-smile at me which I'm sure was impossible, but seemed to work nonetheless.

A mere thirty minutes later I was back, roaming the hallways again. I stumbled upon what probably functioned as a living room and pushed my way inside.

"Hey guys look!" shouted Jubilee over the din. "Mae's back!" I spotted the group stuffed into a corner. Jubilee, Peter, Remy, Rogue, two boys and two girls I'd never seen were thrown together in a hap-hazard circle. I squeezed in between one of the unknown girls and Peter.

"Hey guys." I said shyly studying the unknowns.

"Mae," said Rogue noticing my inquiring glances, "This is John, Bobby, Kitty, and Nicole." I reached out to shake hands with them when I realized something. My cuts were gone. I wondered if it was Charlie's work. Probably. I wanted to get to a mirror to see if the bruises were still there. I shook hands with the boys respectively and nodded to the girls. A chime sounded somewhere. I was amazed it could be heard over the racket the kids were making. John and Bobby exchanged matching withering glances and stalked out the door murmuring something about 'stupid grownups'.

"What's that?" I asked looking around for a bell. Jubilee happily filled me in.

"It's the bell of no return. The bell of all sorrows. The bell-."

"That tells us that lunch is over and it's time to go back to class." Interrupted Rogue.

Jubilee grimaced at her. "That too."

"Did you get signed up for classes?" asked Rogue. She looked at me apologetically. "I don't remember if you told me."

"Uh, no. I didn't even know there were classes." I told her honestly.

"Well, duh, silly." Said Jubilee trailing after Kitty and Nicole who were talking. "It is a school."

Rogue took Remy's hand (gloved of course, she had explained their mutations to me earlier) and motioned for me to follow.

"Don't worry, we'll get you set up."

I followed after dubiously.

"Well, actually Rogue, I was thinking that I wouldn't take...you know…school. I'll hang out and help around the 'mansion' but, I really don't think…"

"Naw it's fine." She said waving off my concerns. "What grade are you in?"

I stared at her blankly. "You don't know?" she asked askance.

"I don't even know what a grade is." I told her shrugging.

"Oh, for heavens sakes." She exclaimed.

"This petite is a little messed up, non?" asked Remy. "Reminds Remy of Logan." He chuckled, noticing my scowl. "Don't worry, it's not always an insult." I rolled my eyes at him and he chuckled again. As I followed them out the door I grimaced. It was time to get my situation straightened out.


	10. Concussion?

**Hello, to my loyal readers and to my new ones! I know it's going kinda slow, but I've got a solid idea that'll pick it up within the next couple chapters. :)**

**Bold: Charlie  
**_Italics: Mae/Memory_

**-quietcutie651**

"Hey Professor." Said Rogue swinging open the door to his study. Xavier looked up from what looks like very tedious paperwork and smiles at us.

"Come in, come in." he gestures to the chairs grouped around his desk and we sit. "Rougue. Remy. Mae. What can I do for you?"

"Actually, it's just Mae. She isn't set up for any classes yet."

"Ah." Xavier said. He started to shuffle the papers around and dug briefly in a drawer. "What grade are you in exactly?"

I flushed in embarrassment and repeated that I didn't even know what a grade was. He nodded in sympathy.

"You will take a few proficieny tests then and we will place you in the closest class we have."

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. Whoa, they were making this sound permanent. I…I didn't want anything to do with school or teachers or homework or taking orders or…

"Well, I'm…not sure if…I mean I really don't think that…"

"Don' worry 'bout it chere." Remy interrupted. "Rogue and Remy will take care of you, non? You in safe hands."

I smiled weakly at him. "Uhhh…thanks Remy."

"No problem."

The Professor handed me a small stack of papers. "If you two will show Mae to the small cafeteria, then." It was obviously a dismissal. The three of us stood, said goodbye, and walked out the door.

It was silent as we walked through the halls to the little cafeteria. I felt like a little kid being led to my doom. Or, at least the principles office. Or the detention corner. Or…

"Here we are, Mae." Rogue said. "You stay here and do your work and then when your done holler."

I sat down at a table and stared at the papers in front of me despairingly.

"Don't worry, sugar." Rogue said taking Remy's hand. "You'll get through it." Then the two of them left.

I sighed and turned to sit straight in the chair.

_Well this sucks._

**Life sucks, then you die.** Charlie whispered in my ear.

_Yup._

**Want me to help?**

I looked down at the extensive stack of papers.

_Yeah. I have no idea what any of this is._

**Relax.** He says. **I'll take care of it.**

Suddenly I feel very tired.

**I'll take care of you.**

I hear him say it, but in the next moment I've slipped into a warm comfortable darkness.

"Wake up, kid. C'mon rise and shine."

I blink sleepily and slap away the hand that's poking my insistently. "Whuddyawan?"

"Huh?" I look up and I see Logan staring back down at me. "Ya fell asleep. Looks like ya finished whatever ya were working on though."

I look in surprise at the stack of papers to my right. "Ummm…yeah." I picked up the first paper and stared at the beautiful handwriting that wasn't mine. This was scary. Could Charlie do this anytime he wanted?

**Do you want the truth?** He asked.

_Honestly, I'm not sure. But, I think I know anyways._

**Yeah. Mae…you trust me right? **

_It's not like I have a choice. But, I suppose so. If you had wanted to do something you would've done it by now._

"Kid?" Logan's snapping his fingers in front of my face. I recoil quickly and fall over accidentally kicking him under the table. I feel my head bounce against the tile and my breath freezes in my chest.

"Holy sh--!"

I can just see him in my peripheral vision, but I keep staring at the ceiling trying to hold back the tears. If I breath, I'll cry. If I move, I'll cry. If I do anything other than lay here, I'll cry. I wanna go home. I want to curl up on the couch with a mug of hot coco and watch a funny movie like I used to. I blink. When did I use to do that? I used to…

_Curled up in his huge sweater that he never wears. Sitting on the old beat up couch, legs tucked up into the sweater, feet covered in his socks that are absurdly big on me. Something's playing on TV. It's snowing outside. _

"_I always knew that thing would look better on you." _

_There's a man walking towards me, but I can't see him. I can see him, but not. He's blurry, but I can clearly see a mug in his hand. He hands it to me and I take a sip. Hot coco. He sits next to me and I snuggle up to him. _

"_Merry Christmas." He says and even though I still can't see him I can tell that he smiled. _

"_Merry Christmas." I say back. I can feel it. He's gonna kiss me! He hesitates…then he leans down and—_

--Shakes me awake. "…okay? Answer me!" I blink and Logan rocks back on his heels.

"Jesus, kid!" he swears and grabs my hand hauling me to my feet. The room spins alarmingly fast. I clutch at Logan's coat and he steers me to a seat. I collapse gratefully in it and put my head in my hands.

"Are you sure your mutation doesn't involve accidents?" he demands sitting down a across from me.

"I…I don't know." My head is throbbing in time with my heartbeat and I can't stop the few tears that sip out from under my eyelids. I suck in a shaky breath and a choked sob comes out. I hear him sigh and get up. Is he leaving? I knew he hated… Huh? He crouched in front of me and tilted my head up. He's brushing away my tears.

"Do I need to take ya down to see Hank?"

"N-no. I'm okay."

"Liar."

I sniff, then wince as my head throbs in response.

"Ow."

"I think you've had enough of the med-lab to last a lifetime. I'll take you to your room."

Before I can protest he's scooped me up off my feet and I'm clutching the lapels on his jacket. Finally, I have to shut my eyes because of the dizziness. I can hear him opening a door and then I hear the responding click of it closing. Suddenly the world is still and I guess I'm lying on my bed now.

I kick off my shoes and roll over pulling a blanket over my head to block out the light bleeding through the blinds.

"Nu-uh kid. Get up."

I ignore him and squeeze the blankets tighter in my hand. He tugs, however, and their ripped out of my hands. I curl into a tight ball, arms flung over my head and try to sleep.

"Mae." He says warningly and I peek through my crossed arms at him. He must be serious if he's using my real name. Or what I think is my real name. Or…whatever.

"Yes?" I mumble.

"Ya haveta stay awake. If you've got a concussion…" he lets the threat of pain, death, and destruction hang in the air. Or, at least, pain. So, grudgingly, I sit up and pull some of the pillows behind me so I can recline comfortably. There's a chair in the corner of the room which Logan is pulling next to the bed.

"You're still here?" I ask. What? I'm grouchy.

"Yup. Gotta make sure you don't fall back asleep."

"Fine." It's hard to be mad when every word you say is filled with pain. All I want to do is sleep.

He's staring at me and I'm determinedly not looking at him. But, eventually, the covers can't hold my attention.

"What?"

"The bruises. They're not as bad."

My hand flies to my neck and skims the place he's looking at. It doesn't hurt anymore, and I can barely see them.

"Yeah…well if you want to keep me awake how 'bout we talk."

"Talk?"

He's frowning. Am I that uninteresting…wait. Stupid question.

"Yeah. You ask a question, I ask a question. That kind of thing."

He looks a little dubious, but eventually he asks me a question.

"How far can you remember?"

"About two years." I'm gently rubbing the back of my head. Oh yeah, that's gonna be sore for a while. Why me? Why is it always me? But then I look up and he's frowning.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

He's silent.

"Fine. What's your last name?"

"No one told you?"

"No…what? What's…"

"I'm in the same boat as you. I can't remember anythin' before two years ago."

"I'm sorry. It's sucks doesn't it. Do you know what happened? Hit your head?"

"I was mind fu-" He pauses and looks at me "…screwed."

I frown.

"What?"

"A telepath went into my mind and scrambled everything around. I didn't remember anything for a while, but the X-geeks brought most of it back."

"You didn't remember anything?"

"Nope. I mean, I remembered Rogue a little bit, but that's pretty much it."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

I rub my temples. Was it bad that I couldn't hear Charlie?

_Charlie?_

…

_Please, answer me!_

The silence bothered me. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Wait," I said thinking about something. "You said 'remembered Rogue'. So you met them before? I don't get it."

"Yeah. Thankfully they brought back my memories. Or not so thankfully. After what I did to…" he broke off. "Anyways. I got…caught again."

"Caught?" I asked, startled. By who, why? The way he said it made me think of animals being trapped. But Logan wasn't an animal although he was very hairy.

"By the same people who mind screwed me before. They took everything. I know I'm still missing a pretty big chunk."

"Oh."

The pain in my head was fading. I blinked a little and shook my head. My vision was still fuzzy though. Wait…The haze around Logan didn't look…it looked like his aura! I grinned as it brightened.

"What?"

"I can see your aura."

He frowned.

"You gonna jump me again?"

Now it was my turn to frown.

"Well…no. But,"

"I don't like little girls."

"I get that. It's just…"

"Nope."

I huffed at him. I studied his aura a little in the silent moments. It was red, like before. Dark, blood red. I saw black swirls in it twisting around his hands. They curled around his chest and squeezed creating and invisible (to him) bond that seemed to suck the life out of him.

"The people who…caught you." I said delicately. I had a feeling the blackness in his aura and the people were connected. "They put the claws in you?"

He looked wary as he nodded. Then downcast though he covered it with a scowl. Ah. So that was the reason he was so grumpy. He had a solid excuse. And if I heard Rogue correctly, he had the metal on his entire skeleton. Yeah, I'd give him some leeway from now on.

"I don't want your pity." He growled standing angrily and kicking the chair back. I looked at him mildly. I'd dealt with scarier people then him.

"Who said anything about pity?" I glared at him. "You jump to conclusions so easily. Now leave me alone so I can sleep!"

"Fine." He growled. He stomped out of my room and slammed the door.

"Fine!" I shouted. Even though he had already gone, the man had super hearing. He heard me. I pulled the pillows down and hugged one to my body. It was just one thing after another wasn't it. Never a moment alone.

Only now, I really was alone. Charlie still wouldn't answer me and I couldn't figure out why. Was it because of the fall? If so, why did it make him go away? Was it permanent? With I sigh I buried my face in the pillow and tugged the blankets over my head to block out the light. Everything would be fine.

I hoped.


	11. Tears

"Mommy

"Mommy."

I groaned. I don't wanna get up, I don't wanna!

"Wakey wakey!"

Ugh. Rain I love you sweetheart, but go away!

"Mommmmmmmy!"

"What?" I asked sitting up haphazardly. My hair fell into my eyes and I blew it away.

"Time to get up. Daddy says your gonna be late for class."

I groaned and fell back into the pillows.

"Daddy?" I asked. Who was she talking about?

"Papa Logan."

I frowned. If I was her surrogate mother and that stubborn ape was her pretend father then we'd have to be make-believe married. Or, at least, make-believe divorced.

"Ewww." I said rubbing my eyes and stretching. My head still hurt, but the pain was negligible. She grinned and hugged me. I managed to get my stiff arms around her in a brief squeeze and then I stuck out my lips. She kissed my cheek and I kissed hers. Then, we both tumbled out of the bed and into the bathroom. I took my time brushing her hair. I hadn't been able to do this for a while.

Ever since I had come to this place, it had been one accident after another. At least it had been me and not her. To think of her being hurt just… I sighed and put down the brush.

"Alright sweetie. Where are you going?"

"To Auntie 'Roro."

Ororo I guessed. I let her take my hand and lead me out of the bathroom and out of our room. I threw on a blank tank top and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Then we were out the door.

"Here you go." I said to Ororo as we stepped into her classroom. It was nice. Filled with plants with sunlight streaming through the windows. It was so nice. I was sure I could hear water falling somewhere. It was practically a jungle. I loved it.

"Ah." Said Ororo. "I'll get her set up before the older students come in. Have you figured out your class dilemma?"

"Kind of I guess. I'm going to see the Professor in a minute and he's going to give me my class schedule."

"Good. I'll keep her busy while you do that." Ororo said taking Rain's hand.

With one last look, I turned and walked through the door.

_Charlie? _

Silence.

_Charlie, where are you?_

He hadn't answered me since I hit my head. I knew it was connected, I just didn't know how. My power had been fading in and out. Sometimes it was so strong I had to stop and catch my breath. There were so many people in this place. I pushed past them carefully trying not to touch them. Touching seemed to boost it somehow. The colors were so bright it hurt my eyes.

_Charlie, you have to help me! I don't know what to do! Charlie!_

I finally reached the Professor's office and opened the door slowly.

"Come in, Mae."

I smiled tightly and stepped inside shutting the door behind me softly.

"Hey Professor."

"Please, have a seat." He motioned to the chair in front of him. I sat and waited for him to speak.

"Logan was in last night. He said that you hit your head. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"But," he prompted. What was he, a mind reader? Wait…

"Charlie…hasn't said anything since it happened. I can't hear him."

The Professor frowned.

"That's very strange. You should probably go down and see Hank."

I stifled a groan and he smiled knowingly.

"Tired of the med-lab are we?"

"Well…yes sir, but…"

"No, buts. Go down and see Hank at once." He handed me a sheet of paper. "These are your classes. As soon as Hank thinks you are well enough you can go to your lessons. Go on."

"Later."

"Goodbye."

I walked down the halls and studied my list. P.E. first thing in the morning with Logan. I scowled. Stupid, razzel frazzen, things I can't say in public… Calculus with Scott after that. Calculus! Scott! He was better then. Good! I can't wait to see him. But, Calculus…wasn't that the hard class? I frowned. History with Ororo and English with her too. Science with Hank after that. That didn't seem too bad. Five classes, an hour for lunch.

Before I knew it, I was walking into the med-lab.

"Hey Hank."

"Why hello, Mae. How are we feeling?"

"Fine. Logan tattled on me so the Professor made me come down to see you. Not that I didn't want to see you it's just…I'm fine!" But, I didn't think I really was. It felt like my mind was…opening, or something along those lines. Hank's aura was so bright I had to look away for a moment.

He chuckled.

"Not to worry, I understand. Now, what happened?"

I explained it to him, including the bit about not being able to hear Charlie anymore.

"Ah. Well I don't think it's permanent. Take it easy though. You'll be fine. Go on to class."

"Umm…where…is class?"

Finally straightened out and headed in the right direction I made my way to History. Turns out, I had missed both first and second period. I walked into Ororo's classroom right on time.

"Hey, Mae."

"Hey Ororo. I guess I'm in your class."

"Oh." She looked surprised. "Are you sure third period?"

"It's what my schedule says."

"Oh." She studied it for a moment. "I just want to make sure you know that third period is for my advanced students. We're studying the Vietnam War today."

The bell rang and I jumped. Students sat around me and I took a seat in the front.

"If you would please open your books to page 334 we'll start where we left off yesterday."

I looked around in dismay as people pulled out pencils, paper, books, and highlighters. I sunk down in my chair.

"Hey."

I looked to my left. I remembered meeting her before. What was her name? Kitty?

"Hey." I felt her aura a bit more dimly. It was like…a shadow always drifting in and out of solidity.

"Do you need help?"

I nodded vigorously.

"Here." She handed me some of her stuff and pulled a book out from a basket under her desk that I hadn't noticed. I smiled gratefully and she grinned back, but then our attention was drawn back to Ororo, who was still speaking.

I flipped open the book and searched through the pages as quietly as possible. I looked down at the picture on 334. It was of a man, more like a boy, sitting against a huge tree trunk, looking up at the camera in disgust. He was in the process of throwing whatever meal he had in his hands at the photographer.

He looked familiar. Achingly familiar. Where did I know him from?

"_Brooklyn you idiot! Keep your head down!"_

_Gunfire. The smell of blood in the air. I was dirty. Filthy. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. _

"_Get your head DOWN!" _

_A hand came down hard on the top of my head and I fell sprawled in the dirt. A heavy weight on me, pinning me. The butt of my rifle digging into my stomach. _

"_Let me up! Let me up!" I screamed. My friends were out there! I need to help them. _

"_There's nothing you can do." A voice yelled in my ear. I could barely hear him. I struggled to turn around. I saw his face. Bud! _

"_Get off me!"_

"_Keep down Brooklyn." He warned. Then he shifted rolling off me carefully. The gunfire stopped. And the moaning started. Our men lay broken and bleeding in the muck, turning dirt to mud with their blood. The flies already started to gather._

_Our Sergeant, Feldman, took their tags and stuffed them in his pocket. Then, gathering all their gear that we couldn't carry, we set fire to the pile of useless junk and watched it burn. _

"_You gotta remember to keep your head down, Brooklyn." Bud told me. He patted me on the back. "Next time I might not be there to save you."_

"Mae!" said Kitty, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Bud!" I said sitting up. Oh, my aching head…

"Are you okay? Who's Bud?"

"Oh God!" I sobbed as tears started streaming down my face. "We – we were ambushed! He pushed me down and…" I broke off struggling to get myself under control.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was just…" I said trailing off and looking around in confusion. "I was just there…"

"Mae, c'mon get up."

I felt hands grabbing me and hauling me to my feet. I swayed alarmingly for a moment before collapsing into my chair again.

"What's happening to me?" I whispered despairingly. Charlie was M.I.A., right when I was remembering things about my past. Or, at least, I thought I was remembering things. Maybe I was narcoleptic and it was a shock-induced dream. But, I knew certain things that meant it couldn't have been a dream.

I was known as Brooklyn, because I wouldn't (couldn't remember?) tell them my name and the last batch of recruits had come from there. My best friend was Harry, or 'Bud', who was as young as I was. Everyone called him 'the Boy' 'cause of his age. He had taken command several times and saved all our lives. I had been in Vietnam! How old was I? Who was I?

What was I?

Did mutants live longer than normal humans did? I didn't think so. But there were exceptions like Logan. He stayed the same, Rogue had told me. He healed and he never seemed to age. I wasn't like Logan, I didn't heal. But… Oh, God, nothing made sense anymore!

And, on top of all that, everyone was crowding around me, their auras pressing together and creating a field of color. I felt whatever shields I had left from Charlie start to crumble and emotions found their way in.

"I've…I've gotta go." I mumbled and pushed my way through the crowd.

I ran out the door, ignoring calls to me to come back. I ran as fast as I could through the halls until I got a stitch in my side. Then I wandered aimlessly. My mind was a blank, jumbled, mess of unhappiness. Everything seemed darker and I took pains to avoid people. I slipped into an elevator to avoid a group of kids coming my way.

I went down a level and explored until I saw a door ajar. Curious, I pulled it open and saw a room that could have come straight out of a movie. Buttons, knobs, blinky lights, the whole deal. I stepped foreword cautiously, looking around, ready for an alien to jump out and grab me. When none did I walked up to the…'consol' I'd guess you'd call it.

There was a window in front of me and I looked out of it curiously. It was a big round room. The floor was below me and I leaned over as far as I could to see what was going on. What I saw shocked me. It was Logan, fighting a big, hairy, ugly, guy. I looked around in desperation. There had to be a door somewhere! I spotted a plain gray door to my left and I dove for it. Throwing it open I raced down the steps and towards Logan. I had to help!

To my shock as I reached the pair of them, the ugly guy…disintegrated. He flew into a million pieces and Logan cursed. He turned and swore as he saw me. His aura was darker than I had ever seen it. Almost black it seemed to concentrate around his hands and chest.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I…I thought…"

"What?" he demanded. "You thought I was in trouble?" He snorted.

"Well, yes…I just wanted to he-."

"You just wanted to help, I know." He said angrily cutting me off.

"You could've warned me!" I said getting angry.

"Oh yeah?" he asked flippantly. "And just when could I have done that?"

"I don't know!" I said clenching my fists at my sides.

"What could you have done anyways?" he asked mockingly.

"This!" I screamed and I raised my hand. I felt his emotion, his anger, his pain, and I twisted it. He fell to his knees as his rage became sorrow, pain became agony. I wanted him to hurt, just like I'd been hurt! I wanted him to feel everything I'd ever felt and had never been able to stop. I wanted to kill him!

As I thought those words, it seemed like a veil lifted and I snapped my hand to my side as if I'd touched something hot. What in the world? What was I thinking?! This was Logan! Pain in the butt, good ol' Logan.

**MAE!**

I jumped as I heard Charlie's mind voice.

_Hi…_

I thought back at him. I was shaken. I nearly…I could've…

**Don't think like that, it was an accident. **

As tears started to fall from my eyes I backed away from Logan.

_That was no accident. I did that on purpose. I did that…_

**It wasn't you! **

_How can you say that? It was obviously me. I just did it! I DID IT!_

**Mae, calm down, now…**

_No! Where were you? Right when I needed you!_

**I'm sorry, Mae, please, believe me.**

_I…_

"What did you do?" asked Logan. My head snapped up and I saw him getting unsteadily to his feet. His hand was clutching his head and his other hand was tightening into a fist. I knew instinctively that it was in preparation to pop his claws.

"I…I don't know." I said, barely above a whisper.

"You…" he started furiously, but he cut himself off. "Get outta here."

I stood there stupidly, watching his eyes. They were so full of hate…

"NOW!" he bellowed and I turned, racing up the stairs. I ran into the hallway outside the room and slammed the door. I started to cry in earnest now and I wiped my tears away tiredly. I walked through the halls until I was absolutely, irrevocably lost. And then I slid down the hall and sat, with my arms around my legs, and sobbed.


	12. Battle and a Kiss

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for reviewing. You guys keep me going. This one's the longest chapter ever; tell me if you like that length better. I'm a little stuck on the next part, but I'm hopping I'll overcome that soon. I am so glad that you guys like my story! I'm just amazed! :D**

**-quietcutie651**

When I had cried myself out, I unwound my stiff arms from around my knees and slumped against the wall. Everything ached. My head, my hands, my heart. Why was he such a…a…

**I believe 'jerk' is the term you're searching for.** Said Charlie weakly, trying to lift me out of my depression.

_It's not him. It's me. There's something wrong with me isn't there?_

**No. Nothing's wrong with you. You're fine.**

_Oh, really? _I challenged starting to get hysterical. _No, I can see how you can come to that conclusion. I try to kill a member of the X-Men (A very powerful member by the way) and nearly succeed! He's the B.A. of all B.A.s! The King, in fact! So tell me, how am I fine? _

An alarming thought crossed my mind.

_What are they going to do to me? He's going to tell them what happened and then they're going to throw me out. What if…what if they take Rain away from me! I'll die before I let that happen they can't…THEY JUST CAN'T!_

**Don't worry; I'll take care of you.**

_Like you've done? Why did you LEAVE ME!?_

**I…I…**

_Why are you keeping it from me? Where could you have possibly gone? You're in my frickin' mind!_

**It's better for you not to know.**

_Oh, please, spare me your nobility. Tell me where you went!_

**It's none of your business.**

_It's every bit my business, mister, you're in my mind! I'm starting to doubt I can even trust you Charlie._

I waited for his reply in vain. When none came, I dropped back into my sadness. I got to my feet shakily and wandered until I found an elevator to the upper level. I heard people around me talking, talking to me, but I paid no attention. I went up to my room and kicked off my shoes. I crawled into my bed next to Rain and pulled the covers up over my head. Why…why…I was so upset I couldn't even think of a good expression to state my dismay. I reveled in the darkness under the blankets. And as I drifted off to sleep, I wondered… Should I leave Rain here and run?

The next month was hellish. I knew that I had been disturbed to even think of leaving Rain, so I trained as hard as I could. I'd show him…everyone, I mean, that I could be something. Do something.

Charlie ignored all my advances on making up and soon my aura returned full force. I cried myself to sleep silently every night as not to keep Rain up or worry her. But I think she knew anyways. I woke up exhausted and ill-rested. Great black bags formed under my eyes and my movements became sluggish. I think people noticed, but except for a few select friends, people generally ignored me. Jubes and Nicole were the first ones to comment on my tired appearance.

"Mae, are you okay? You look horrible."

"Have you been sleeping? Honey you've got to sleep. Recharge the ol' battery."

I assured them I was fine, but I could tell they didn't believe me. As I got worse, other's started noticing. My grades kept up, but I was falling asleep in class. Teachers approached me with concern in their eyes and advice in their words. I ignored both as politely as I could muster.

I had several embarrassing events when I started projecting someone else's emotions. I started bawling, screaming, laughing, or hurting. I knew Charlie was still in my mind (most of the time) because my shields held mostly. But I learned something interesting about myself. If I opened myself up enough I could feel other peoples physical pain. Or, as one awkward incident proved, their…ahem arousal. Remy still can't look me in the eye.

But, life carried on as normally as it could get.

I avoided Logan like the plague and asked assistance from Rogue.

I had two different types of training now. The first was the physical stuff from Rogue and the other was the mental stuff from Charlie. He was speaking to me again, but we carefully avoided talking about anything relating to his disappearances or Logan. Sometimes he'd disappear for an hour just to come back and claim nothing had happened. I knew something was going on, but was too afraid of sparking another fight to pursue the subject.

At night when I was asleep we'd meet and we'd focus on working on my shields. He wanted me to be able to hold them up while he was gone and not depend on him for that. It was actually very calming what we did. It was a lot like meditating. We'd sit across from each other on the dock (I still didn't know where that place was…) cross-legged and close our eyes. Then he'd talk, telling me to relax and such, and I listen gratefully until every muscle was loose. Finally he'd guide me into my own mind to erect shields.

It was weird. The fluctuation between having a shielded and non-shielded mind was disconcerting at times. Often I'd end up dizzy and my equilibrium would be thrown until I could manage to either have it up or down. It couldn't be in the middle. Eventually though I was able to have strong shields up all the time and still be able to see people's auras.

Sometimes it was overwhelming just being able to see it. The swirling miasma of color threatened to drown me some days. Charlie frequently saved me, tamping down my power until it was nothing but a faint fuzzy light, or more like an impression of light. Music usually didn't accompany it, but sometimes I'd hear soft music and not know if it was in my head or in reality.

Because of the training I was doing with Charlie I didn't sleep very well. I was groggy and slower so when I trained physically with Rogue I always got more bruises then she did.

Rogue and I trained hard together for the first week, but one day she brought Scott. He had heard about what we are doing and decided to help. At first, I was worried because he was just getting back on his feet and I felt that he wasn't strong enough. Boy did he prove me wrong. He whooped my butt more than once and it was an effort to keep up with him.

Obviously, even in his weakened state, he was stronger than me. But that didn't stop me from trying harder. I woke up every morning at dawn for a two mile run with Rogue and Scott before returning to my room to shower and wake Rain. I'd take Rain to Ororo, skip Logan's class, and nab a quick breakfast. After that, classes continued as usual. After Hank's Science class (Chemistry-I didn't even know I knew Chemistry! And although it was Charlie's doing I seemed to grasp the class quite easily) I would grab a light lunch and spend three hours doing homework with one hour of free time.

Usually, I'd spend my free time with Rain. Although sometimes we'd go down and hang out with the older kids. Everyone had their own system or 'group within the group'. Rogue and Remy being all 'together' together usually in the corner or in the middle of the couch. Bobby and Kitty talking or reading. John and Jubilee laughing loudly and shooting mischievous glances over at the two couples while bent over a piece of paper. Peter was the quiet one, except when he felt something he had to say was meaningful. Nicole regularly hung out with him and most of the time Rain and I were invited to come and be with them during free time.

Then there was dinner. Personally I had never seen so much food in my life. The cafeteria was exactly how I imagined a normal school cafeteria, but I'd never stepped foot in a school so I wouldn't know. After dinner was over I either had one more hour of homework or free time. Once that was out of the way, it was time for my 'specialized training'. Rogue and I would meet up outside my room and then we'd race each other to the gym. Scott would always be there before us. Same as today.

"Hello." He said standing up from the sitting position he'd been in, stretching his muscles. "Are we ready today?"

"Maybe." Rogue drawled flippantly.

He frowned good naturedly and led the way in stretches. See, that was the thing about Scott. Once you got to know him, you realized that he had many expressions along with many types of frowns. I guess it was because people couldn't see his eyes, so he needed a way to express himself without them. The frown as I pointed out before was the I-should-be-irritated-but-I really-don't-care-if-your-five-minutes-late frown.

I grimaced as sore muscles were stretched to their limit and beyond. Rogue could do the splits and I watched, amazed, as she dropped into it easily. Ears burning with shame I tried to replicate her ease to no avail. I ended up doing a face plant into the mats. I looked up embarrassed and wrestled my unwilling body into a sitting pose like Scott and Rogue were doing.

"So…what are we doing today?" asked Rogue, looking perfectly at ease in this setting.

"I was thinking about a bit of team training today." He said smoothly. Ha, he thought I hadn't noticed the small sideways glance he gave me. Or, at least, I assumed he gave me, seeing as his eyes were covered. But, if you looked closely you could see his head twitch in my direction. And sometimes, when he…

Whoa. Change the subject much.

"I don't think that's a good idea." I said trying to find a viable excuse. I hadn't openly admitted to not wanting to see Logan, but I think they picked up on it.

"C'mon Mae." Encouraged Rogue. "You're getting good enough. Maybe…" she said trailing off as an idea hit her. "Maybe you could come with us on the next mission!"

Oops. Wrong thing to say apparently. There goes The Frown. Not just any frown but the 'uh-uh no way in hell are you doing that'. It was the frown that he gave Jubilee and John right before they did something that he knew would take weeks to clean up. (Of course, both of them were immune to the frown having experienced it many times up close.)

"Now Rogue, it's a bit early to think about sending her into the thick of things."

"I didn't say she'd be fighting. She could be…back up. She could guard the plane. Or just watch to see how its done."

The frown inched off his face as he grimaced warily.

"Well I don't see how that could hurt…" he said thinking it over. I was doing some of my own thinking. I wasn't sure this was a good idea. I mean, sure, it would be awesome to tag along and watch my super-hero friends kick major bad guy butt, but…could I trust myself to stay on the plane? What if…Jubilee, got hurt? Could I honestly tell myself I'd stay on the plane and not rush out to save her?

Blegh. Could I live with myself if I stayed at home like a sissy?

I made up my mind. I wanted to go.

"Please Scott? I wont get in the way, really I wont!" I said.

_Much._ I added to myself and Charlie if he was listening. Probably not. I didn't feel him very strongly right now. Perhaps he was out.

Scott sighed and I held my breath. "Alright." He said giving in.

"Yes!" I said pumping my fist in the air and high-fiving Rogue. I launched myself at Scott and we both toppled over onto the mats.

"Let's go." Said Rogue bounding up. We jogged to the Danger Room and found we were the first ones there. Scott and Rogue went into the locker rooms to change while I waited on the floor.

I heard an irritated harrumph and looked up. To my dismay it was Logan coming down the stairs to the bottom of the silver room.

The rest of the team filed in soon after. Peter, Remy, Bobby, Jubilee, Nicole, Kitty, Ororo, and a blue man I had never seen before. Scott and Rogue came back in and Rogue went to hang out with her friends while Scott and 'Ro talked.

They were all in their uniforms except for me. I was in shorts and a tank top. My face burned and I tugged on my clothes fretfully.

A voice behind me made me jump a foot in the air.

"You've been ditchin' my classes."

"Don't DO that!" I yelped turning quickly and glaring at Logan. Geez! For such a big man he could move the quietest I'd ever seen. Heard. Or didn't hear because, ya know, he was…quiet. Argh! Whatever.

"Yer gonna have to make up for all the classes that you missed."

"I don't have to do anything. If I've been informed correctly, this is voluntary. And, voluntarily, I'd like not to spend my mornings with you!" I shouted.

I could feel the eyes of my teammates drilling into my back. And then I remembered, what I'd done to him that day in this very room. I felt bad and averted my eyes in shame.

"Sorry Professor Logan." I muttered. "I'll show up to your class from now on."

Although I had no idea how I was going to work that out. I was so pressed for time already.

"Good." He said. But he had this evil little glint in his eye that I didn't much like the look of. "But you still need to make up what you missed."

But I missed a whole month! How could I possibly…

Guilt crashed into me again. Whatever. I'd do whatever I had to do to make it up.

Sighing heavily I waited for my punishment.

"You'll have an extra hour of training with me for a month."

The kids behind me groaned in sympathy.

"The only free time I have is right before dinner." I said, staring at the ground.

"Fine, we'll do it then." He said crossing his arms. "What're you lookin' at?" he barked and the students fled from his angry gaze. "You all better watch it or your gettin' the same punishment."

I heard a muffled 'Eeep!' and figured it had come from Kitty. I tried to force a smile on my face, but it came out more of a grimace.

I could see Logan looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't acknowledge him. I saw, rather than heard him sigh, and then he turned and walked away.

"Alright everybody. Let's do this like it's for real." Said Scott calling attention to himself by waving his arms about.

I was close enough to hear the concerned comments coming from Ororo.

"Scott, are you _sure_ you are well enough to do this exercise?"

"I'm positive 'Ro. Don't worry. I've been retraining and getting back all my strength. I'll be fine."

"Very well."

"Red team will be Logan and Kurt, Jubilee, Rogue, Peter and Kitty. Blue team is me and Ororo, Nicole, Bobby, Remy, and Mae."

"What?" demanded Logan. "The squirt's gonna fight?"

"Are you referring to me?" I demanded putting my fists on my hips.

Scott rubbed his temples. "Children…" he said warningly.

Logan and I rolled our eyes, while Kitty piped up.

"Where's John?" she asked.

"John's on suspension." Scott said darkly. Oooh, I bet there was a story in there somewhere…

"Are we gonna sit aroun' talkin' all day, or are we gonna get this show on the road, homme?" asked Remy twirling one of his trademark cards between his fingers.

"Alright. Ororo go up and execute Training Program 23-M. You know what to do everyone."

She smiled and went to the control room while I tried desperately to relax. I jumped as a hand came down on my shoulder. It was Scott.

"You'll be fine." He said encouragingly. I shook my head frantically.

"No, wait! What are we doing?"

I gulped as the room started to change. Suddenly we were looking at a battle field. A very fire-y and bloody battlefield.

"Think of it as a hyped up version of capture the flag." Scott said before running off, hand on his visor.

I grabbed for him, but he evaded my grasp. Swearing I turned and motioned to Nicole. She came over to me and yelled: "What?"

I could barely hear her over the noise of weapons firing and cars exploding as their tanks burst into flames.

"What are we trying to capture?" I screamed over the noise.

"You stay here, and don't let anyone grab you, otherwise it's game over." She shouted back.

"What are you talking about?" I shouted before being knocked off my feet by a seismic blast as a building a couple yards away exploded. Nicole helped me to my feet and we clung to each other as fire-y debris rained down on us. I yelped as some of it burned my skin. She was better covered with her leather uniform. Most of my skin was bare and I could feel the little embers eating through my shorts and creating holes in my tank top.

"You're it!" she said and pushed me to the ground behind a makeshift barricade before running off.

"Wait!" I shouted, but it was too late. She couldn't hear me as she ran off to look for the object.

…object?

Or person?

OHMYGOD! I was the object! I was the flag!

Dang it! How come no one explained this to me?

I got to my feet shakily and ran in the opposite direction looking for a place to hide. I stumbled across an empty building that seemed semi-safe. At least it wasn't on fire. Much.

I figured I should keep moving (wasn't a moving target harder to hit then a still one?) when suddenly one of the walls was smashed in. I screamed and jumped back coughing on the cloud of concrete dust that exploded on impact. Someone stepped in coming through the dust. Peter! Or, now, he was Colossus. Covered in metal and coming straight at me!

I turned tail and ran out the door dodging fallen debris and zigzagging across the field, trying to lose him. I was out of breath and clutching a stitch in my side when I ducked into a small hut type thing. It didn't look terribly sturdy, but I figured I might be able to sit for a minute to catch my breath.

That's when I heard a thunderous _CRACK!_ I looked up at the ceiling in dismay and I saw it dipping downwards. In the fight against gravity, the roof had lost.

And now, I was going to lose too. I dropped to my knees and covered my head as the roof finally gave in and collapsed. I think I was screaming, but I couldn't hear myself over the din.

Suddenly I felt an iron grip on my arm and I felt myself being snatched from the building just as it caved in. I got the feeling of being spun around, but I didn't know who had saved me because my eyes were blurred by tears. I was crying and hugging them fiercely thanking them repeatedly. It definitely felt like a male chest and I wiped at my eyes furiously until I could see who it was.

Logan. He'd saved me. Stranger yet he was clutching both my arms, holding me to him tightly. The simulation dissolved rapidly leaving us standing in a plain round silver room. I was still shaking and holding onto him. His head was pressed against mine and I could hear him whispering something.

"Never again." It sounded like.

I pushed at his chest trying to get him to let go, he was holding he so tightly it was starting to hurt.

"Logan, ow, Logan let go."

He stilled for a moment before releasing me and taking several alarmed steps backwards.

"I…" he said trying to say something, but it wouldn't come out. He turned and walked out of the D.R. while everyone else crowded around me.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Talk to us Mae!"

"I'm…fine…" I said haltingly. Was I really? Was I really okay? I didn't think so. What had Logan been talking about 'Never again'?

**Are you okay, Mae? **Asked Charlie with a low mind-voice.

_I guess._ I said. _Logan acted really weird and then he ran away. I wish I knew why. _

"C'mon everybody, go get cleaned up. Class dismissed." Called Scott regaining everyone's attention. Trust Scott to smooth over an awkward situation.

I was in my room a few minutes later, lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. My life had been completely turned upside down. I felt as if I was in a constant state of turmoil, one second away from crying. I was tired of it. And I was just plain tired.

Well forget them. Tomorrow was Saturday and I'd blow them all off and sleep in. I'd finish my homework on Sunday. Right now all I wanted to do was sleep.

I kicked my shoes off and climbed into bed fully clothed, although I took a second to remove my socks. I had just gotten comfortable when there was a knock at the door.

_It had better be Rain._ I said to Charlie whether he was listening or not. _If it's not I swear I'll kick whoever it is right in the…_

"Hi, Logan." I said bewildered. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he was standing outside my door. It looked like he couldn't either. He took a big breath and then seemed to think better of whatever he had planned on saying. He closed his mouth, but I tensed as I noticed a glint in his eye that I'd never seen before.

"Logan, what…" I started, but he cut me off. He walked in and shut the door behind himself quickly. I stared at him as he turned around to face me. What in the world did he want that he couldn't stand outside my door? Was he that ashamed to be seen near me? I didn't understand.

My heartbeat sped up as he took a step towards me. It took all my will to hold me ground.

"What do you want?" I asked shakily. He saved my life and now he was coming in here to…kill me?

"I just…" he said sounding pained. "I just…"

He reached out and grabbed my arms like he had when he'd saved me in training.

"I just want one taste." He murmured before leaning down and capturing my mouth with his.


	13. Who?

**Good morning! I thought I should update this before I went on my trip. :D I'm going to be gone for a week and I didn't want a mutiny on my hands when I got back. Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys make my day. So much love... **

**I'll be back soon, please leave me reviews so I can be all happy. Later everyone!**

**-quietcutie651**

**P.S. BTW, I'm thinking maybe I need to change the rating from 'T' to 'M'. Not for sex or anything just for gore. ?? Suggestions? Comments? Concern's about my mental health? Please review and let me know. **

My head was reeling.

_What!?_ My mind screamed at me. This was…he is…

_Amazing…_ I thought before reaching up to hold him back. But he flinched away from my hands and broke the kiss, staring at me in…what? Disbelief? Denial?

Disgust?

My heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst.

"Logan." I said just as he whispered 'Mae.' But we both jumped, as there was a knock on the door. He stepped away from me deftly and opened the door sidling out before whoever was there had a chance to say anything.

"Whoa." Said Rogue who stood at the door with Remy, who was holding Rain.

"Did we…eh…interrupt?" asked Remy waggling his eyebrows at me.

"No." I snapped snatching Rain from him. Rogue and Remy grinned at each other.

"Uh-huh." Rogue said nodding as if I was a simpleton. "Sure. Goodnight Mae."

"Night." I muttered and sighed heavily as they left. Rain didn't wake up as I changed her into pajamas and tucked her into bed. But sleep wouldn't come for me. No matter what I tried, thoughts of Logan plagued my mind.

I settled into bed next to Rain and wished for sleep. But, sleep was far from coming and I spent another hour awake.

Thinking about _him_.

--

"Mae."

I know that voice. I know I do…but who…?

"Mae…"

Ugh, what do you want? I'm trying to sleep here!

"Mae-Mae."

"Argh." I groaned, sitting up in bed. Only I wasn't in bed. In fact, I wasn't even in the mansion.

"Whoa." I said looking around. It was my mindscape. The sun was still shining, but unlike other times, I could see a dark nimbus of clouds rolling in. As my attention was captured by the black and purple bruise of clouds, I didn't notice Charlie sneaking up on me.

"Gotcha!" he said grabbing me from behind. I yelped and jumped three feet in the air.

"Charlie!" I panted. "You big jerk!" I said smacking him upside the head as he laughed.

"What was that for?" I asked half-laughing with him.

"Ah, you need to lighten up some. All of this work and worry is going to make you explode." He said and sat next to me. We laid back in the grass and watched the storm roll in. It felt faintly sinister and I shivered as it started to block out the sun.

"Charlie…" I said rolling over onto my stomach and looking at him. "What's going on?"

Charlie's eyes were closed and he had a small smile on his face. "Nothing I can't handle." He said cryptically.

"Please, tell me what's going on." I said putting a hand on his arm.

"It's nothing." he said and shook off my hand sitting and facing away from me.

"Charlie." I said as the sun was finally blocked out. "I…I…" I was getting scared but I didn't want to admit it.

"Oh no." he whispered. "It's breaking through."

"What is?" I asked alarmed as he started twitching. Suddenly he turned and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Whatever happens, whatever you see…" he said frantically as he twitched. "It's not real. It isn't real!"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "Char—!"

Then my world changed.

I'm strapped down, I can't move. What's this…this stuff all around me? It burns my eyes. It isn't water and it glows green. I'm at the bottom of a tank and the liquid's above me. I won't be able to breathe this stuff! I don't have an oxygen mask. What's going on? Who…who are they? Help! Please, get me outta here! What was that noise? No, please! Don't! I open my mouth to scream, it floods my lungs, and it burns. God, it burns!

What did I do? What did I do to deserve this! Tears leak out my eyes, but the men above me pay no heed to my pain. Their voices are muffled, but I can tell their celebrating something. My demise? Oh, if only I could die. At least the pain would stop. Stop. Stop. Stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop…

"Stop! STOP!" I scream and I hit at the hands around me jumping off my bed and backed up against the wall.

"Mae! It's just us. It's us! You're okay, you're safe."

Safe? I…I know that voice. I think. Think. Where am I? Ma-mansion, right? Yeah, mansion. Safe in my room. Friends, they're friends…

"S-scott?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're ok. You're fine."

"I…I am?" I ask stupidly. I check myself for cuts, for limbs. I could've sworn they near tore my leg off… And the blood…it swirled in that green stuff. Oh…oh no!

I felt hands on my back as I barfed up my guts. Scott? Yeah, Scott. He held my hair back.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's ok." He said and he rubbing my back again. I hope I didn't just chuck in front of everyone. I look up to check and thankfully, it's just him and me.

"I…I…" I try to explain to him, but the words aren't coming out.

"I know. It's ok." He assures me and helps me to my feet.

"Where's…where's Rain? I didn't hurt her did I?" I ask in concern.

"No, she's fine. Kitty took her."

"Oh…ok." Rain's safe. She's good. Ok.

We make it to the bathroom and I shove him out so I can shower. I can't help but keep checking my body for burns or cuts. I just keep seeing the blood…ugh, think of something else…

Once I'm clean to my satisfaction, I wrap myself in a robe and peek out. Scott is gone and I'm not sure if I'm glad or somewhat disappointed. Then I hear an intense argument my door and I shamelessly press my ear up against the wood.

"…your fault!"

"I can't control it! I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry isn't good enough! She was scared out of her mind! How do you plan on explaining what happened to her?"

"She was…?" A pause. "I don't plan on doing anything about it. She needs to learn to shield better and then she'll be fine."

"How could you let her suffer like that? You absolute…"

He trails off as I open my door. It's him and Logan and while Scott looks furious, I can see fear in Logan's eyes. I can't keep the quiver out of my voice as I ask him, "That was your nightmare wasn't it?"

His face falls in shame and before either one of us knows what happened I hugged him. I feel him stiffen, but I just squeeze him tighter. Then, to my shock, he's hugging me back.

"Sorry." He whispers into my hair and I snuggle farther into his chest. He's so tall I'm practically lost within him.

"I'm sorry too." I said and I swallowed back tears that threatened to escape again. All of a sudden, my feet left the floor and I realize that Logan's picked me up, walked past a protesting Scott, and carried me into my room. He set me down on my bed and sat next to me with little hesitation.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, not looking at me, but rather staring at my floor. "Everything I guess." He answered himself. He opened his mouth to speak, but I put my hand on his arm, stopping him.

"You don't have to tell me. Not if you don't want to." I told him. The look on his face told me he didn't believe me so I continued, "I'm ok. You're ok. I don't have to know. That's probably private. You might not want to share that. So, don't."

He looked at me for a good minute before relaxing. He flopped back on my bed and I watched him with a small grin on my face. I flopped back with him and we stared up at my ceiling for a few long minutes before I started to yawn again.

"Time for bed then." He said hauling himself off my bed. He extended his hand to me and I took it. Usually, in movies, the heroes of the story meet eyes and in that moment they realize that even though they bicker and argue, they really do love each other. I felt that moment raised my gaze to his eyes…and yawned. I laughed at myself, but I knew that I'd sleep with no more nightmares tonight.

And as he left I smiled. I felt like a crazy, sitting there smiling at nothing in the dark, but I could hear Charlie in the back of my mind cheering me on.

The next day was filled with 'Are you ok?'s and 'If you need to talk…'s. As politely as I could I waved them off, assuring and reassuring, everyone that I was fine. I felt…weird. Not quite happy, but…content? Mellow, I suppose. It was good. I laughed with friends, snuggled with Rain, and snuck glances at Logan when I was sure he wouldn't notice.

I didn't notice anything amiss until Rogue's head snapped up.

"What?" I asked her concerned.

"C'mon." she said standing abruptly. "You're about to go on your first mission."

I broke out into a smile. "Really?"

"Yup." She said and I followed her out of the living room. A few minutes later we were suited up, or rather, they were suited up, as I didn't have a suit. I was just in jeans and a big t-shirt. Not crime-fighting costume, but as I was told repeatedly 'I was NOT going into the field. I was staying with the Blackbird. And I was NOT getting involved.' Psh, yes mother, eh, Scott I mean.

I was strapped into a seat practically shaking with excitement until I realized…my friends could get hurt. This wasn't some movie where the good guys never get a scratch and the bad guys slink away with their tails between their legs. There was actually a chance (a slim chance but…) that they could get hurt.

I banished the thought from my mind and listened to Charlie muttering as he built up my shields.

**This is stupid.**

_Why am I stupid? I forgot the reason this time._

**Not you. The situation.** He huffed angrily.

_Don't worry. I'll stay on the Blackbird. _

**Promise?**

The way he said it brought back a flicker of a memory.

_-"…promise?" _

"'_Course I do." I told him bouncing happily on the ratty old couch._

"_I'm serious. Promise me you wont try anything like that again."_

"_Oh sure 'cause I go out picking fights with dangerous gang members all the time." I said rolling my eyes. "Come on. Give me a little credit here."_

_He's not looking at me and I wonder how I've upset him. _

_  
"I'm sorry." I tell him crawling off the couch and standing next to him touching his arm a little. I know he usually doesn't like to be touched, but sometimes I can get away with it. Like now. Instead of pulling away, he leans into it just the tiniest bit…and then he catches himself and shakes off my hand. But I'm not angry. _

"_Do you promise?" His eyes are piercing and I have to catch myself before I fall into them. _

"_I promise…"_

"…Mae?"

"Huh?" I ask looking around. Dang it! I nearly had a name that time. Ooo, this is irritating.

"I asked if you were ok." Said Rogue looking at me in concern.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I said, thinking back on the memory. Where had I been? Who had I been? When had I been there? I sighed and frowned as I rubbed my eyes.

"We're landing now." Said Rogue although it sounded more like a warning. I wondered why that was…

_CRASH!_

"Whoa!" I yelped as the plane slammed into the ground. "What happened?"

Rogue rolled her eyes, but she had a grin on her face. "Scott's driving."

I stared at her a long moment before busting up laughing. So the Fearless Leader wasn't perfect. Who'da thunked?

"Alright everyone you all have your positions. Just like we talked about in W.R. (War Room.) Move out." Scott said in his most authoritarian voice. I bristled at it a little just in principle, but I raised my eyebrows as he paused in the doorway.

"Stay here." He said firmly. "Do _not _under _any _circumstances step foot outside this plane."

"Aye aye." I said saluting him.

He frowned and I recognized it as Frown 19. The I-am-the-leader-you-will-do-as-I-say frown. Fairly effective as I sunk down in my seat and smiled weakly as everyone filed off the plane to kick bad guy butt.

"You guys be careful." I called after them. "Any of you come back dead, I'll murder you!"

That got a chuckle out of Jubilee and a grin out of Remy, but the rest were already out and taking the mission very seriously.

I thought back on the info we received at the briefing. It was just supposed to be a couple of Anti-Mutant activists who were trashing a warehouse, but there was said to be 'maybe' a mutant or two with them. Which could mean that the Intel. was completely wrong or partially wrong or…or…what was that noise?

I looked out the cockpit window and saw Storm and Jubilee circling around the back of the warehouse. Scott and Remy flanking…that was normal. Logan and Rogue should be inside the warehouse now…but that still didn't explain what that noise was.

Without thinking, I opened up the ramp and walked off following the noise to the warehouse entrance. I snuck inside and watched as Logan was surrounded by bad men who tried to get him down. Logan was down to the last two guys when I realized that one of the men he had put down before was getting to his feet and had a knife in his hand.

The man got to his feet and started towards Logan. Instead of shouting a warning, I ran out full force and grabbed his shirt. The guy whipped around and slashed at me, but I was too quick for him and I ducked bringing the heel of my hand up to meet his nose. There was a sickening crunch and the man howled. I gulped as his blood ran over my hand. I just broke a man's nose. I _broke_ his _nose_. Gross.

I turned to Logan to see how he was doing when he swiftly unsheathed his claws and let the one guy who was running towards him impale himself. The claws slid home and the man fell to his knees as did I. It was horrible. There was something alien inside my body, and I couldn't…move…oh the pain…Jacey…my daughter…what's she going to think when her Daddy doesn't come home? Oh, oh…God forgive me…please, look after her…Jace…Ja…

I coughed as he did and I watched blood splatter out of his mouth. I brought a shaky hand up to my mouth and felt for blood. When there was none I was relieved, but abruptly my relief turned to horror as I felt the man's life slipping from his body.

"No." I whispered and I watched as his body fell from Logan's claws. Light turned to dark and back to light again. I saw…something…warmth, light, love…and then it was cut off as the man's brain shut down.

I heard an anguished cry and saw another man rushing at Logan. The other who had been fighting. Had they been friends? Logan swung around and swiped him across the chest.

"Logan." I said as I fell back. Blood trickling between my fingers…gotta keep fighting. Jake! He killed Jake! He was the only good man in this whole God forsaken outfit. I thought I had a chance at redeeming myself. I was gonna quit. Today was the last…

I heard the man's scream as Logan got his arm.

"Stop." I croaked out. I couldn't catch my breath, it hurt to breathe. I'll avenge you Jake! I'll, oomph…I'll kill him… I tried to stand, but my arm was in so much pain I couldn't leverage myself up. On my back gonna die here in this stupid warehouse. And who will ever remember me? Or Jake?

I choked on my own blood as Logan stabbed him in the gut.

"Please." I whispered to nobody. I couldn't even hear Charlie through my pain.

"Mae!" Logan yelled. And I could hear his footsteps as he walked towards me. Then there was a tremendous _SNAP!_ and both of us looked at the ceiling, which caved in at that moment. I watched the roof fall at me in slow motion. I lay there silently. I had died twice in a minute. What was a third time?

Unexpectedly a form above me took the brunt of the impact and barely moved an inch. Logan!

"Go!" he ground out. "Move!" I wriggled around looking for an escape route from under Logan's body, but no matter which way I moved he blocked me. In saving me, he'd effectively trapped me.

"Go!" he barked at me, but I frowned at him.

"I can't go anywhere!" I said. It was true. He was holding himself above me, hands above my shoulders, my legs in-between his.

At least the pain was gone.

"Not for long though." Said a voice out of my line of vision. What? Had he…read my thoughts?

Logan growled as I heard footsteps approaching.

"Well, well, well." The man said, for it was a man. A tall slim man with short-ish dark brown hair and eyes so brown they looked black. Or maybe…they were black… He was wearing jeans and sneakers with a black t-shirt and a long coat. "What a mess we have gotten ourselves into. Eh, little sister?"

I did a double take.

"You…you know me?" I asked. This could be it, the answer to my questions! Maybe, I did have a family who loved me, who wanted me. A Mom, a Dad, and two brothers. Wow!

But my hopes of a happy family were dashed as he drew a gun out of his inside jacket pocket.

"Yeah. Wish I didn't. You have no idea how long I've been searching for you. The family will be absolutely thrilled." He said and he sat upon the bit of roof that Logan was holding up. As he did, and Logan didn't budge, he frowned and bounced a little, making Logan's elbows give out and putting him that much closer to me.

"You see, we're really close to figuring out how to destroy you once and for all. So, I've come to take you back. But first," he said getting up and crouching by us. He put the barrel of the gun right up to Logan's temple. "I wanna watch you suffer a bit. It's been so long since I've had that pleasure. I wanna see the look on your face when you end up wearing your dear husband's brains."

I felt my eyes widen and I looked at Logan in confusion and panic. Husband? What?! Was there someone else around that I couldn't see? Or did someone just miss the fact that I couldn't have been more than seventeen?!

"Seventeen?" snorted the man. "You haven't been seventeen in years." The look on his face was so malicious it chilled me. He pressed the barrel of the gun into Logan's temple and I squirmed as Logan's head was pushed back at an awkward angle. The man's finger tightened on the trigger and –

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" yelled a voice. Scott? It was Scott!

"Help!" I screamed. "He's gonna kill him!"

I heard the echoes of footsteps as the X-Men raced towards us. The man gave them a disgusted look and pulled the trigger quickly. Logan's head jerked and he collapsed on me. I tried to scream, but Logan was so heavy that he was crushing my lungs.

The man grabbed my chin and turned my face towards him.

"Just a little something to get you through the nights." He said and tapped my forehead. An excruciating pain shot through my head and I jerked back knocking my head against the concrete floor. I saw stars and the last thing I heard before blacking out was the man's voice telling me,

"You are mine."


	14. FatherLogan's Memory

**I'm back! Well, technically I've been back for nearly a week, but just now I decided to update. Had to complete Chap. 14. And, plus, ffdotnet scared the bejesus out of me! True story. Anyways, here's the next part of the story you've been so eagerly waiting for. kisses**

**-quietcutie651**

**P.S. Remember to review and also remember to tell me, in your review, if you think I should up the rating. I'm not quite sure and a couple opinions would be nice. Once again, not for sex or anything, but...I plan on it getting pretty gore-y. shrugs Love you all. :D **

Ryan sat in his chair at the head of the table, staring at nothing, thinking about his amusing, but disappointing day with his sister. He had finally caught up with her again. Now that he had, he could follow her until he was ready to implement his plan. He had heard that the husband had survived. Pity.

"Stop that." He said absently over his shoulder. His slave in the corner was crying again and it was interrupting his thoughts. She sniffled a few more times, but managed to get her tears under control. Good thing, too. He really was not in the mood to beat her again. Maybe he could let Brantley have her. No, Brantley was going on his mission tonight. Aidan then.

"Speak of the devil." Ryan said as his little brother Aidan walked through the door.

"Oh, is Dad here?" asked Aidan looking around curiously.

"Silly boy." Replied Ryan motioning to Aidan's seat. Aidan sat like a good little boy. He wanted nothing more than to please his older brothers and his Daddy. Except Charlie. But he was dead so it did not matter.

"If Father was here…" Ryan started to say, but stopped as his slave started leaking again. Quite noisily too. He stood and walked over to the slave standing over her. He stood over her for a full minute staring down at her disdainfully. Aidan hopped up out of his chair and jumped off the table to land on the back of his chair. It did not as much as wobble. He balanced perfectly and craned his neck. He did not want to miss a moment of this.

"If you do not stop that pitiful wailing immediately," Ryan said crouching next to her. "I will cut out your eyes, so you will not be able to shed tears. I will cut out your tongue, so you will not be able to make a sound. And then I will give you to Aidan and give him the day off so he can play with you."

The girl shook harder, but swallowed her voice and wiped her eyes hurriedly.

"That's better." Ryan said and stood patting her head. "Good girl."

He walked back to his chair and sat. Aidan was giggling excitedly.

"Would you really have given me the day off?"

"Of course, brother." Ryan said dismissively. What was this slave's name? Tina? Tory? Something with a T…

"Evening." Said Brantley as he walked into the hall. He pulled out his chair roughly and sat, slouching in his chair. Ryan frowned. It was most undignified to sit as such, and being eldest brother, he thought it his duty to inform Brantley that…

"Good evening, Brother!" crowed Aidan at the top of his lungs. He was still perched on the back of his chair. "How are you? You look grimmer than usual. Did you mess up again? Is Ryan going to beat you again? Oh, oh, may I watch? Please? Pretty please?"

"Brantley?" said Ryan conversationally. "What have you done?"

"Nothing that cannot be remedied." He said shortly. Brantley had always been the quiet one. Perhaps it was because he was upset _he_ was not eldest brother and, therefore, inferior.

"Share your mistake with us." Said Ryan. It was phrased as a request, but his tone booked no argument.

"I have killed another slave." Brantley said crossing his arms. "Humans are so fu-…"

"Brantley." Said Ryan, interrupting him. "What have we discussed about swearing?"

Brantley gave him a sour look. "Fine. Humans are weak. Too weak. Why not ask Father about some of his slaves? They can stand, at least, after a beating and go get a cloth to clean up the blood. Humans just lay there."

"Father's minions are not for our use. We've been banished to Earth so we must use Earth's resources."

"I still do not understand why he threw us out." Brantley stated quietly starting an age-old argument.

"Because. We needed to learn to look out for ourselves. He has sent us off into the world and look how well we have done for ourselves. A castle full of slaves and knowledge about the Lost One."

"You've found her?" Brantley asked sitting up.

"Yes. She goes by her middle name now. 'Mae'. She must be regaining memories faster then we expected. It must be exposure to her husband. But he did not look like he remembered either. She was not going by that name when she married him." Said Ryan thinking it over.

Brantley would be retrieving the book tonight. The information contained in it would be priceless. The secret to finally getting rid of her for good. After that, they could leisurely take control of the world. The pitiful Humans would not know what hit them. Those animals were barely better than insects.

"Can we take her?" asked Aidan bouncing up and down excitedly on the back of his chair. "May I have the first go with her?"

"You have been such a good boy," said a familiar and commanding voice from the door. "Surely, Ryan, he deserves a little treat?"

"Father!" said Ryan clearly startled and he rose from his chair quickly to bow. The boys' father walked through the door and watched as his sons bowed before him. Brantley stood without making a sound. Strange, because one would figure the chair would scrape against the stone floor. It did not. Aidan jumped down from his perch and bowed clumsily falling to one knee before launching himself at his father.

"Daddy!" cawed Aidan. "I knew you would come! I was so excited, we found her, Dad, and it's excellent. We are going to kill her and her filthy scum of a husband! The mutant boy will be dead, Daddy, and I am going to get to help. Imagine that! Ripping that big boy's throat right out of his body and carving my name into his face. Oh, I'm just so excited!"

His father beamed at him. "That's my son."

Aidan grinned from ear to ear as his father patted him on the head.

"How are you, my children?" he asked pulling out his chair at the opposite end of the table and sitting looking between them expectantly.

"Fine, Father. We have found the Lost One. Silly girl thought she had gotten rid of us for good." Said Ryan sitting in his seat across from his father.

He had the place of honor being eldest and, therefore, at least as important as Father. Aidan and Brantley sat too, and although Ryan saw that Brantley still had a frown on his face he could tell by his posture that he was secretly pleased to have Father there.

"What do you plan to do with her?" Father asked turning his black eyes on each of them in turn. Ryan couldn't tell if he was pleased or not. Father was very complicated.

But Ryan grinned maliciously and let his sharp canines stick out of his mouth.

"Anything we want."

--

Logan bolted upright and jumped off the metal table he was lying on. There was a shocked shout and he felt hands on his shoulders holding him back and making him lie down again. He struggled briefly before the pain in his head became too much and he allowed himself to be calmed.

"Where is she?" he asked trying to keep his eyes open. "Where's Mae?"

The scent and voice told him that it was Hank who restrained him.

"Hank, where…?" he asked fighting through the pain. Gotta stay awake. Gotta stay awake.

"She's fine. Stop, Logan, she's fine." He said and looked over Logan's finally stilling body to watch Mae sleep. They'd both been unconscious since the incident. And that was two days ago. It was a good thing that Logan finally woke up, but he was starting to fear that Mae was in a coma. She hadn't so much as twitched in the entire time she'd been here.

And Logan! A gunshot to the head! If he hadn't of had that adamantium skull…

"Where?" Logan insisted.

"Look to your left." Hank instructed reading over some figures. Logan's body had uncharted regenerative capabilities. If only Logan would sit still enough so he could run some tests. But, alas, with Logan's past, and the nightmares…

Logan let his head drop to the left and forced his eyes open. Mae, thank any God that was listening, she was all right! It worried him that she didn't turn to look at him too. In fact, she didn't move at all. Not even with all the racket Hank was making.

"Hank?" he asked back over his shoulder. He didn't look away from Mae's too still body.

"Yes?"

"You said she's alright?"

"Yes."

"Then why isn't she moving?"

Logan didn't like the pause that followed. Hank was silent for a long time and Logan moved his weary self to the right so he could look at Hank. He looked sad.

"Hank…" said Logan.

"She's simply asleep." Hank assured him, but even in his weakened state, Logan could discern the little lie that Hank had just told him.

Logan sat up, slower this time, and fought vertigo to face Hank.

"Don't lie to me." He growled and Hank looked at him with a face that clearly said that he was not impressed.

"Calm down, Logan." Said Hank. He sighed put down his papers and adjusted his glasses while Logan waited with barely concealed impatience.

"What's wrong with her?" Logan demanded.

"She's unconscious. She doesn't respond to any stimulants such as light or heat."

Logan's eye twitched. "How long have we been out?"

"Two days."

Logan swore and slid off the table, wincing as his feet hit the floor roughly and jarred his head.

"Logan! Sit back down!" ordered Hank as Logan walked over to Mae's side. Logan ignored him and Hank through up his hands in defeat.

"Fine. Do as you please. But I will not be the one to pick up your body from the floor." Hank snapped. Then he sighed and rubbed his temple.

Logan stood over her for a moment before getting a chair from the corner and sitting by her. This small girl and taken hold of his heart and tugged making him fall right into love. He didn't know why, but she was important. More important than anyone had ever been to him except maybe Rogue. But with Rogue, it was different. This was…different.

He stared down at her and willed her to wake up. He couldn't remember why he was in the med-lab, but that was nothing new. Well, it had been. It was strange, but he found himself remembering more and more of his old life. The life before those government pricks caught him again. He was remembering…music, as pansy as that sounded. Little songs and snippets of conversations, colors and emotions.

It all made him very uncomfortable when he thought about it. Emotions? Feelings? No. Better to feel nothing, to have to nothing, to be nothing. It was safer that way. But, Mae…made him feel things.

One part of him resented her for it. How dare she make him care? How dare she make him feel more human than he had his entire life? How dare she raise his hopes when deep down he knew that he was nothing more than an animal and never would be anything else?

But the other part (the traitor) loved it. The attention, the looks she thought he didn't notice, the slight blush whenever their eyes met. He went to bed thinking about it and sometimes it kept the dreams at bay. She was the only thing that kept him anchored to reality.

The funny part was, they hardly even knew each other.

But, he had this feeling (again, another feeling!) that he knew her from before. Her scent, her look it was all familiar and yet…

And Rain! That little girl was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. (Not that he'd ever admit it)

She was familiar too. Her scent was recognizable, but different in a way he couldn't explain. He knew that scent. He _knew_ he knew that scent! He smelled it everyday. But he couldn't figure out what it was. Or who. Maybe Rain's father was in the Mansion.

Besides that, how exactly were Mae and Rain related? Sisters? Mother and daughter, as unlikely as that sounded. Mae was way too young to have a daughter that small. So that was out.

Logan frowned as he considered the possibilities. Each one was worse than the last and finally he gave up and went back to simply watching Mae sleep.

She had to be okay. If not for her sake then for his. Because he didn't know if he was going to be able to survive without her again.

…

Again?

Logan groaned in frustration. It was little slip-ups like that, that made him think that he knew her from before.

He thought back to the Danger Room incident. He almost hadn't made it in time. He knew that the safety was on and technically, you couldn't be killed, but still…if she'd been hurt, he never would have forgiven himself.

Luckily, he'd gotten her out of that death trap just in time and, without thinking, he'd whispered a promise that seemed to fit so well. 'Never again.'

He had to have known her. All these 'again's and feelings and scents…

Logan scowled. What _did_ he remember?

Mae and Rain, albeit vaguely.

A…house? Up in Canada somewhere.

Men. Surrounding the cabin…

… "_Alison! Take Rain and run! Just go! They aren't here for you, they're here for me!"_

Her scared eyes. Her hands clutching at his bomber jacket.

"_I'm not leaving without you!"_

They threw a smoke bomb through the window. He yanked her shirt up over her mouth and shoved her into the living room. A little girl was curled up in his huge chair crying. A little girl….Rain? RAIN!

"_Cut the noble crap and run!"_

"_No!"_

"_DO AS I SAY! For once! Alison please!"_

"_We'll get out of this!"_

"_You don't know what these people are capable of! Get out while you still can!"_

A bullet whizzed through the air tearing at his jacket and passing within an inch of Mae. Alison? Mae? They're….the same! Alison is Mae!

"_Go!" he shouts and shoves them both into the bedroom. He growls and unleashes his claws running towards the men kicking in the door of the kitchen. There's a horrible crack, a gunshot, a scream. He turns just in time to see the roof of the bedroom cave in._

"_ALISON! RAIN!" he screams and tries to go to them, but he gets 50,000 volts shot up his spine. He stumbles, but keeps going. Amazed cursing behind him indicating the men doubted his super healing abilities. He can hear them cranking the power up, but he doesn't care. They have to be okay! They have to! _

_He reaches the rubble and tears into it. He lifts a beam and sees a flash of skin. "Oh God…" he says. To any God who will listen. Please! Please let them be ok._

_Then he's zapped again and this time it's enough to stun him for good. Just as his eyes flutter shut, he sees three men standing by the helicopter. They smile at him all in sync. _

_Then all he knows is pain._


	15. Bad guy?

"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God

"_Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!" _

_The mantra seemed to keep me going as I leapt over a fallen log. I ducked under a tree and listened intently. I didn't hear any sounds of pursuit. Charlie was still probably distracting them, giving me time. _

_Gotta keep moving. Gotta keep moving. I jogged through the forest heading southeast as Charlie told me. This was southeast wasn't it? I swallowed a yelp as my skin and clothes were torn by brambles and low branches. I fought through the pain and kept going. _

_An angry howl shattered the calm, silent night. I gasped and turned to stare at the path behind me. _

"_No." I protested to the empty air. "No." _

_I turned and ran as fast as I could. Should I climb a tree and hide? No, they could smell me. I couldn't keep running like this. They hadn't fed me yesterday…or the day before that I think…I wasn't sure. Another howl, closer this time. _

_Tears clouded my vision and clogged my throat. I shook my head and kept going even thought my lungs burned. I had to escape! I…I wasn't going back there! They'd have to kill me first! As I made that decision, I heard an excited bark. They were right on top of me! _

_I pushed myself to limit nearly tripping over my feet in my haste. I looked up and screamed, stopping violently. He was there. He smiled at me, but it was cold and lifeless. It made sense knowing what he was. _

"_Girl." He said smiling wider. "You try my patience." _

_I swallowed hard. Then turning I tried to bolt into the forest. He was quicker however and grabbed me around the waist throwing me to the ground. His brother, still in wolf form, bounded into the clearing panting and salivating. With an awful scream, it turned back into a Human and watched silently as He kept a boot to my chest. _

_The third came next switching back to Human also from his previous form as a crow. This one pranced and skipped about excitedly. _

"_Oh, let me have some fun with her too!" he cried wringing his hands together. He and the wolf man howled in unison begging for blood. My blood. He took his boot off my chest and turned to the other two. I crawled back slowly, scooting on my butt to the edge of the clearing. _

"_What do we do with the traitor boy?" the illusionist asked. He was fairly skipping with glee at the prospect of ripping out his brother's throat. _

"_He amuses me." Said the first. "He makes decisions that have no gain for him. I wonder what we would find if we took off the top of his head and looked at his brains. Would his be like ours?" he looked at them both. "No, probably not. We may be blood, but that means nothing to him apparently." He said, answering his own question._

_The wolf man, staring intensely at me, nodded in my direction. The first turned and grinned in his malevolent way. He jumped, so fast he was barely a blur, and landed with his feet on either side of my feet. I froze and he dropped to his knees and leaned down to my face. _

"_You, little girl, are never getting out of here." He said trailing one finger idly down my face. "You are going to stay here and rot. Keep in mind that if you ever try this again, we will kill your beloved 'Charlie'. Do not doubt it. He may amuse me, and he may be our blood, but he is nothing. I could kill him with a snap of my fingers and not lose anything." _

_I shivered and shot my defiance in his face. "I am not going back." If these were my last words, I'd make them count. _

_He blinked at me in surprise and behind him I heard a roar of rage and a squawk of delight. Wolf man and the Illusionist were both expressing their emotions violently. Wolf man turned back into his preferred form and tore at the trees while the Illusionist pulled a knife from his pocket. _

"_Should I cut out her tongue for her insolence, brother?" _

_The first shook his head seemingly in awe. "You speak as though you have a choice." He said suddenly smiling again. But his eyes blazed. "You are mine. Never forget that fact. Charlie cannot protect you. You are dead to the world." _

_Tears started to flow out my eyes. _

"_That is right." He said. "Accept your fate. Submit to us." _

_Anger blazed through my heart telling me to make one final stand. "I will not submit!" I screamed then snapped my fist up into his stomach. I gasped and brought my hand back. It hurt to hit him. _

_He snarled at me and wrapped his hand around my neck strangling me. As my vision faded, I prayed to any God who was listening. Please, I begged, protect Charlie. Then I slipped off into darkness hoping I'd never wake up again._

"AHHHHH!!" I screamed bolting up. I looked around frantically searching for my brothers who would surely kill me if I lingered in one spot for too long. Once I calmed down, I reluctantly sifted through the dream vision.

Four? Four brothers? Three of which wanted me dead?

Great.

--

I struggled off the small cot they'd put me on and winced as my feet hit the cold metal floor.

_Clothes would be nice._ I thought searching for them. I was in one of those dinky hospital gowns that covered nothing. Erg.

**Check the cabinet on your right.** Charlie said softly.

_Thanks._ I said and to my surprise, he was right. There were some of my clothes neatly folded that awaited me. I put them on quickly and bemoaned about the lack of socks or shoes.

**Are you…are you all right?** Charlie asked. He sounded strangely anxious.

_Yeah. Except for the whole nightmare thing. But, even with that, I'm ok. _I told him. _What's wrong?_

**I was so scared he'd hurt you. **He whispered and I found myself being pulled away from my consciousness. I landed hard next to Charlie and when I looked around, I was surprised. This wasn't my usual mindscape. It was the same place, but instead of sun, there were dark, gray, clouds that drizzled rain on us as we got up.

"Yeah, about that." I said standing and pulling him up with me. "Who was he?"

"Ryan." He said darkly and I watched as his eyes darkened and his usually open and friendly face clouded like the sky above us. He imagined a coat and turned up the collar.

"C'mon." he said and led me around the mansion to the front. It wasn't like the Xavier Mansion. This one was darker and the place itself seemed to have an aura. I didn't like it. Charlie tried the door and to my surprise, it was unlocked.

"Who lived here? Did we?" I asked. He ignored me and imagined the both of us dry as he took off his jacket.

"No. Our brothers came here on holiday once and befriended the eldest son of the man who lived here. They used to come back every year for a vacation. One year we brought you along and you became friends with the youngest one."

"What was his name?" I asked looking around the entrance hall. Stairs on both sides leading to the upper levels. Paintings, hangings, chandeliers; it was a beautiful home.

"James." Charlie said. "The older one was John the third."

"James." I repeated. "That's a nice name."

Charlie turned and looked at me with a sad smile. "You said that the first time you met him."

I smiled back and ran a hand through my hair. "What happened to him?"

Charlie looked at me with a sad face and then he looked away quickly. I could see his mouth opening and closing trying to form words.

"We…never found him." He finally said. He looked downcast. "I looked for him. The others didn't care. After the older one died they saw no point in coming, but…one year…"

"Yes?" I prodded. It might not be a particularly important time in my life, but I knew so little…

"Never mind. One year I stopped bringing you. That's it." He said as he started climbing the stairs.

"Don't lie to me." I said struggling with my disappointment. "If you know something, you should tell me."

"Some things are better left forgotten." He said cryptically without looking at me.

I glared at his retreating back and I stopped following him up the stairs. Eventually he noticed I wasn't behind him and he turned.

"Look," he said. I waited, but it took him a moment to spit out my name. As if he…

"You know my name." I said in disbelief. "You know…"

"No, Mae, I don't know anything ok? Just…come on?"

"No!" I exploded stomping up the stairs. "Tell me my name! Now!"

He ignored me and turned to go back up the stairs.

"You tell me my name, who that other man was, everything you know! Tell me!" I screamed at him and ran up the steps turning him back around.

He looked at me passively and didn't move to protect himself as I slugged him hard in the chest.

"You…you…" I yelled. "You big jerk! How dare you!"

He still didn't react and for some reason it infuriated me more. I drew back and punched him with all my strength right in the nose. He fell back onto the stairs gagging on his blood.

"I probably deserved that…" he said.

"Yes!" I snapped interrupting him. "You did. Do. I should beat you black and blue until you tell me what I want to know."

"And what do you want to know?" he asked and sat up. I was outraged that he'd imagined himself clean and his nose wasn't broken anymore.

"Who I am!" I bellowed at him. "You frigging imbecile! You have to be upsetting me on purpose, because no one could possibly be that stupid!"

"Mae…" he said in a placating voice, getting to his feet.

"What's my real name!?" I shouted and pushed him back into a sitting position.

His eyes blazed and he shot to his feet grabbing my wrists quickly. He glared at me before getting a hold of himself.

"I realize that you are upset." He said in tight clipped tones. "However, you must understand I have reasons for what I do."

"Forget you." I spat and wrenched my arms out of his grip.

I stalked down the stairs and I could hear him behind me coming after me. I was at the door when I stopped and turned around.

I looked him straight in the eyes and told him, "I hate you."

For a moment, he just stopped his jaw dropped slightly in shock and all the fight went out of his eyes. It was like blowing out a candle. The light that always seemed to emanate from his being faded and it got physically colder. The lights went out in the room and we were plunged into darkness. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark and just when they did, I saw him move.

Everything blazed back to life and his eyes were flaming in indignation, hurt, betrayal, and something else I couldn't put a name to. He was on me in a second, slamming me up against the wall. He was hot. The places he grabbed me felt like I had been sunburned instantly. The lights were suddenly too bright and I could see flames jumping out of nowhere.

"You little wretch!" he hissed. My heart jackhammered in my chest.

"After all I've done for you, after all I put myself through, all the torture I endured for you, and you dare to insult me? You walk away, you hit, and you talk!" he snarled at me shaking me roughly.

"I saved you countless times. I fed you, clothed you, and you…" he growled before throwing me to the ground behind him.

"I am working to save your life, even now!" he shouted through the burning house. I watched as the flames licked at the roof hungrily. I tried to inch towards the door without him noticing, but he caught me. He stomped over to me and wrenched me up to my feet.

"Take it back!" he bellowed at me. "Take it back!"

"I don't hate you Charlie." I whispered. But, I do fear you now.

His tense shoulders dropped, his back straightened, the fire burned out, and he relaxed so much he dropped into a sitting position on the floor. I dropped with him and watched him warily. He took deep breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth and eventually he sat up straight.

"I'd prefer," he said adjusting his collar and smoothing back his hair. "If you wouldn't do that again."

"Okay." I whispered still eyeing him. I had thought that only three brothers wanted me dead. But what if Charlie wanted me dead too?

I sniffled and he looked over at me coolly. Then his face softened and he scooted over by me.

"Hey." He said pulling me against him as I shook trying to contain my tears. "I'm sorry, Mae. I didn't mean to over-react. I know you don't hate me. I don't hate you either."

"O-kay." I said shakily.

"We've got to work together to make sure you're taken care of. And we wouldn't want Rain to get hurt, would we?"

I shook my head.

"Alright then. When the time comes, I'll show you what I know. But, it isn't the time." He said softly and brushed my hair out of my face.

"Here." He said and picked himself up, helping me up too. "I'll put you back."

I was silent as I felt the pull away from my sub-conscious and I woke up on the floor of the med-lab with a very large headache and several new and annoying pains. I pushed myself up off the floor and shook my head. That was a mistake. I let myself be pulled down by an invisible weight and rested my forehead against the cool metal floor. I tamped down my desire to barf my guts up and raised my head slowly.

I sighed. Good ol' med-lab.


	16. Control

**Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. Just FYI I've made a little challenge for myself. I'm going to try to see if I can get 100 reviews by the time this story is finished. Please, remember to review! Thanks.**

**-quietcutie651**

I slipped into my room stealthily, avoiding everyone, so I could get cleaned up. My movements were jerky and I felt myself shaking. Was…Charlie a bad guy after all? Why didn't I see it? Why couldn't I have a family who loved me?

Who was I?

The question was still unanswered and my anger flared again. What right did he have to keep that kind of information from me? I was so angry I thought I could burst.

I stripped quickly and shoved my weary body under the hot spray. Hopefully after a little cuddling with Rain I'd be better.

I stepped out of the bathroom a while later, changed and ready for bed. It was nearly ten thirty and Rain wasn't in yet. I pushed back my nervousness and was about to go look for her when the door opened. Logan walked inside carrying a sleeping Rain. He paused and looked at me as he stepped through the doorway, but continued to the bed and set her down gently.

I shut the door and watched him take off her shoes and put her under the covers just like a Dad would do. It made my heart wrench in my chest. We might not ever find her Dad. And with all the turmoil going on in my life, I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to see mine.

He finished and stood up straight, looking at me like he'd never seen me before.

He jerked his head, indicating I should follow him, and he walked out of my room, pausing in the doorway long enough for me to snap out of my daze and follow him.

We arrived at his room a minute later and he opened the door letting me go in first. It was unusual for him to be quite so chivalrous; after all, he did have a reputation to uphold. But he let me in first and I looked around in curiosity.

I'd never been in a boy's room before, let alone a man's, and it wasn't quite what I expected. Instead of not being able to see the floor, I could see the dark wood just fine. There was a small pile of dirty clothes, but they were all in one general spot of the room. No half-eaten sandwiches or empty beer bottles, not Logan. His room was near spotless.

It greatly confused me before my mind fell upon the idea – super sensitive nose. It would bother him if he tried to go to bed smelling dirty socks all the time. So he had to keep his room relatively clean to stay sane. Or, whatever passed for sane in a mansion full of mutant superheroes.

I sat on the end of his bed gingerly and he pulled up a chair from the corner. He turned it around and sat on it backwards. He put his arms on the back and sighed as he rested his head on them.

He looked tired. Not the regular I-just-spent-two-hours-in-the-danger-room tired, but…just tired of being here. Being him.

Problem was, I rather liked him as him. I looked at him for a second waiting for him to speak, but he was still and silent so I seized the opportunity to take a second glance around him room.

Not a lot of posters or pictures on the wall, but I did see at least one of Rogue and a poster of some rock band I'd never heard of. No surprise there.

There were two big shelves attached to the wall, both filled with books. I squinted as hard as I could, but couldn't see the tiny names printed on the spines. I think I needed glasses.

I looked at Logan again, who was, to my surprise, staring at me.

"What's wrong, Logan?" I asked softly, scooting back on his bed so I could cross my legs Indian style.

He didn't answer, but just looked at me. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.

"Logan?" I asked. He was really starting to worry me.

"I remember." He said plainly. It was almost apologetic.

But I didn't get it. I grinned ear-to-ear and nearly squealed with joy.

"Logan, that's wonderful!"

He shot me a look and my grin faltered then faded.

"Oh. It's…it isn't good?"

He sighed. "It isn't good and it isn't bad. It just depends on…you."

I started. "Me?"

"How you take it is how it is. Good or bad."

"Okay…" I said utterly confused. What did his past have to do with me?

"Mae. I don't remember all of it, but I know who Rain's Dad is."

My eyes went wide and I felt my jaw drop.

"Really?" I whispered. "Who is he? Is he my Dad too? Where is he? What does he look like? How long ago…"

He gave me a look and I shut up. He swallowed hard, looking anywhere but at me. Finally, he dropped his head down on his arms again. He mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?" I asked and I got up from my seat. I put my hand on his arm and his head shot up in surprise. I jumped, but stayed where I was. We were a couple inches apart and he looked up at me in dismay.

"I'm Rain's Dad."

We eventually ended up on the bed, in a completely non-sexual way. I was lying next to him, with his arm around me, as he explained what he knew. He didn't know how it was possible, but he was a Dad and I was married to him. I was Rain's Mom for sure. Who else could it have been?

Logan had taken Rain down to Hank earlier and gotten a blood test. Now Hank knew that he was Rain's father too.

It was all so crazy all I could do was listen and nod. And stare at the ceiling in open-mouthed shock.

When he told me about the men standing by the helicopter before he passed out I nearly jumped off the bed.

I asked what they looked like and his description made me feel sick to my stomach. Those were my brothers, they'd set him up to be captured again.

Now the question was, how did Rain and I survive after the roof caved in?

He remembered quite a bit, but that just opened up so many other questions. Oh yeah…

"Logan?" I asked. "You didn't by any chance…know my name?"

"Oh yeah. You used to…" he broke off as he looked at me.

I had doubled over on myself as a hot sharp pain jack-knifed through my skull. I whimpered and tried calling for Charlie.

_Help! Ow, ow, oh God what's happening? Charlie? Char—_

Suddenly he spoke and his voice seemed different somehow.

"Don't tell her her name." he snarled at Logan and as I looked up at him, he sat up and looked at me strangely.

_What?_ I asked. _Logan, what's wrong?_

I realized that I wasn't speaking. I was just thinking what I wanted to say. Why couldn't I speak?

"You just shut the hell up and leave her alone. Got it?" Charlie said and got up from the bed. I was badly disoriented and I slowly came to the realization that I wasn't in control of my body. Charlie was controlling me!

I tried to shout, to wave my arms, but my body wouldn't obey me. Charlie moved me out of Logan's grasp and tried to step out into the hallway.

"Mae?" I heard Logan say and I tried to turn my body around, but Charlie was too strong. I felt Logan's hands turning me…Charlie...around.

"Get your hands off me…her…" snapped Charlie. Good to know I wasn't the only one confused.

"Charlie?" demanded Logan. I could see him faintly looking into my eyes. "Let her go!"

"No! She's not allowed to know her name!" Charlie snapped. I tried to claw my way back to my own consciousness, but Charlie was too strong. He kept me pinned under the oppressive weight of darkness. I struggled, but to no avail.

"What do you mean 'not allowed'? It's her name!" said Logan. It must have been hard for him. It's Charlie, but I'm in here too.

"Mae!" he called searching my eyes. "I know you're in there!"

Good. But I can't speak to you at all. Dang it.

"Your name's Alison!" he called just as Charlie pushed him away.

Alison? I…I had a name! Yes! Take that Charlie you big, stupid jerk!

But Charlie started to laugh. "That isn't her name. She was just using that when she married you."

My heart sank. And I knew he was telling the truth. I felt the grip he had on me fade and I fell back into place in my mind. I gasped as I returned and fell to the floor. It was a total sensory overload. Being in the blackness of my mind cushioned any feeling from the outside world. It was like a sensory deprivation tank. I couldn't feel anything.

Being thrust back into reality was quite jarring. I didn't know how Charlie managed to stay on his…my feet.

"Mae!" Logan exclaimed and knelt by me to help me up.

"I'm…sorry…" I panted out as I struggled to my feet.

"You're sorry?" he nearly snarled. "It's him that should be sorry."

I clung to him, gripping his shirt tightly. I blinked rapidly trying to think through my sudden pounding headache.

"God, Mae…" Logan said. He was staring at me funny.

"What?" I ask, but I suddenly choked. My nose is bleeding badly and I wipe at it frantically.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew!" I whimper and Logan drags me into the bathroom. He starts wiping at my face with a wet wash cloth and I'm trying to figure out which way to hold my head. Do I tilt it back? Or do I lean foreword and pinch it? Ugh, gosh that's disgusting.

"Are you sure you're okay? How did he do that? Dammit he's lucky he doesn't have a body of his own or I'd…"

He's ranting now and I let him get some of his anger out while he cleans me up. I feel light headed and as I wobble a bit he grabs me and lifts me up onto the counter. I feel rather than hear him run out of steam and he rests his forehead against mine briefly.

"What the hell." He said and I understood the unasked question. What the hell was that?

"Charlie…can control me. Remember when you woke me up in the cafeteria? Well he had taken over me then, too."

"Well now, at least, I can tell." He said. "Did you know your eyes turn blue?"

"Really?" I asked. My strength was failing me quickly. I thought I might fall asleep right where I was. "Wicked."

"C'mon, darlin'. I'll put you to bed."

I murmured my agreement as he scooped me up and walked back down the hall to my room. I was nearly asleep when he set me down next to Rain, but I was awake enough to grab his arm as he turned to leave.

"Stay?" I yawned. I was fading fast, but I felt him sit down, then lay down next to me.

"Goodnight." I whispered.

"Night."


	17. The Beast

**Hey guys. Please don't reach through the computer and strangle me, but I'm going to be gone for two or three weeks. And I know, this chapter is really short, but hang in there. You guys are amazing, never quit being you!**

**-quietcuti651**

He walked through the halls with incredible confidence for one in such danger.

Ryan's voice spoke through the earpiece. "Make a left, here."

Brantley turned as directed, gun held loosely at his side. It was rather unnecessary he thought, but his brother had wanted to keep things as normal as possible. With half a dozen monks killed already they wanted it to look like some religious maniac had come through here guns blazing.

However, there was only one gun and one purpose. It would end tonight. The suffering; the agony of defeat. As they watched her regenerate so many times her chapter would finally come to a close.

"A right at the end of the hall and then the fourth door down." Rang the voice as though in his mind. Not that Ryan couldn't do that, but…

He made the last turn and counted the doors. He twisted the metal knob to no avail. It was locked. Ha. They thought he would be deterred by such a weak piece of resistance? The lock and part of the door splintered as he kicked it in, making several of the monks jump in fright. About eight of them stood together in a haphazard semi circle protecting the coveted text. The fate of the only one who could defeat the demons lay written in that one little book. And here one of the four beasts stood.

The room was dark, only lit by candles, though there had to be several hundred. In the soft glow of light Brantley could see clear as day the pedestal on which the book lay on. One of the monks drew themselves up in what he might of thought was a defiant stance. The demon raised the gun lazily pointing at the leader. The monk straightened boldly waiting for the bullet.

Brantley swung the weapon to the left and fired a single shot. As the monk fell with a bullet in his head, the others jumped. Some called out a name, undistinguishable because of the echo of the shot.

"You are all going to die." That last word was said with such quiet force that many shivered. Although it wasn't a hiss, like they had expected, his voice had something inhuman about it. As if he was growling constantly through the entire thing. The lead monk slowly spoke trying to translate into English

"We will die with honor. And we will die doing what is right."

Six more shots rang out and six monks fell silently, crumpling to the ground. The last stood, eyes screwed shut, obviously waiting for his turn. He peeked his eyes open and saw the demon changing cartridges. With a yell he flung himself at the thing. He knew it was futile, but he had to try.

Brantley was sideways, new cartridge halfway to the weapon. As the monk roared he dropped the cartridge and flung his arm out without looking. He caught the monk around the throat, not moving even as the monk's full weight hit him. The monk scrabbled at the hand around his throat then squawked as he felt his feet leave the floor. He scratched at the hand ineffectually. The demon looked up at him with a glower. Then he smiled as his form rippled with suppressed energy.

"Brantley, you fool!" Ryan shouted through the earpiece. "Do not change! Do you hear me? Do not change again! Brant…"

Brantley tore off the earpiece and threw it blindly to the other end of the hall. He knew he'd face a beating when he got home, but he was so _hungry_. He let the monk drop to the floor shivering in barely concealed excitement. He doubled over as his form started to tear and skin gave way to fur.

The monk scrambled back and watched in horror as Brantley's form changed and he let out a howl. An unnatural breeze tore through the room and blew out the hundred or so candles lighting the place. The monk felt his back hit the wall.

In the young demons place stood a wolf like creature with one distinctly human characteristic; intelligent eyes that immediately landed on the monk. With a bark that sounded suspiciously like a laugh the thing bounded over and snapped its jaws inches from the monks face.

The screams didn't stop until morning.


	18. Logan v Logan

**Hello all! I feel simply terrible that I've not updated before this. What's it been? Over a month at least. I'm so sorry that I've kept you all waiting like this. Let me tell you it has been busy! I've finally started college and gotten over my sinus thing so I'm back on track! I should be updating regularly from now on, so don't murder me, please! WARNING: I have 1 or 2 bad words in here so...yeah. 3 Reviews are cherished!**

**-quietcutie651**

I woke abruptly, blinking back my sleepiness, in a state near panic from not feeling that warm solid chest behind me. We'd been sleeping in the same bed for about a week now, much to Scott's continual displeasure. But Logan and Rain and I were a family again. We still didn't remember everything, but it was a start. He'd curl up behind me slinging an arm across my waist and I'd do the same to Rain.

He'd quietly, and without discussion, moved most of his things into my room. Half the closet was filled with flannel shirts now and I didn't mind one bit. It felt…right. We'd get up in the morning and he'd shower first and then me 'cause he didn't take as long as I did.

We didn't exactly…act like a couple. But we were together more often and a little more civil to each other. And there were kisses. Not big ones, like before, but small ones. Good morning kisses and good night kisses. Rain gave them frequently and so did I although I was a little more shy.

At the end of the day the three of us would lay in bed together. I read voraciously, stealing some of the other kids book out of their rooms or sometimes going to the library. Logan had his own book and we'd sit and read together, me in my pajamas and Logan in his sweat pants. Rain would usually crawl between us and fall asleep. Then Logan would turn out the light and we'd go to sleep.

I yawned and stretched, slipping from the bed carefully as not to wake Rain. I ignored my hunger and stumbled over to my dresser and yanked open the first drawer. Crap. I kept forgetting that Logan had moved his stuff in there. He had the right side of the dresser and I had the left. Rain had both drawers at the bottom.

Whatever he did Logan seemed to put me the farthest from harm he could. When we slept his back was always to the door protecting me and Rain. Even the dresser, because the right side was closest to the door. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I didn't think so.

I picked clothes out and threw them in a pile in the corner. I'd dress after my shower.

He walked out a couple minutes later still toweling off his hair. He was dressed of course, as we had made a deal after the first 'incident'. Put your clothes in the bathroom with you so you don't walk out naked. He wasn't at all shy, but I was.

"Good morning."

"Hey." He said swooping down to kiss my hair. I gathered up my clothes and stepped into the bathroom. Sighing I threw my clothes down on the counter and picked up his sweat pants, flinging them at him, trusting his quick reflexes would save him.

They did and he gave me a lop sided smile as he dropped them on the floor at his feet. I rolled my eyes, but let it go. Men.

"Daddy, daddy, I'm hungry!" cried Rain bouncing over to him and pulling on his hand.

"Alright, hold on a minute." He said pulling on a shirt. "Do you want us to wait for ya?" he directed at me.

"Nah." I said walking back out and, taking a bold step – for me - , helped him button up the shirt. "If I take longer than a minute, she might mutiny."

"And you take _forever_." He complained. Nervous I looked up at him carefully to see if he was really annoyed. He wasn't. His eyes sparkled and he pulled me into a brief hug.

"Get outta here." I said waving them off. I hugged Rain and she smooched me on the cheek. I smooched hers and she ran back to Logan, who swept her up in his arms and carried her out, winking at me as he left.

God, I love them.

* * *

Thirty minutes later I was making my way down to the big kitchen. In the time I'd spent here I'd gotten lost more times than I could count, but it was slowly getting better. I had to backtrack twice, but hey.

As I rounded a corner, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. If there was one thing Scott had taught us, it was to always trust your instincts, no matter how much it irked him to agree with Logan.

I stopped and slowly peeked back around the corner. Seeing nothing, I turned again and jumped three feet in the air when I saw Logan there leaning against the wall with a wide smile.

"Geeze!" I said half-laughing. "Give a girl some warning."

"Consider yourself warned." He said, almost growling.

I blinked in confusion. Shaking away my doubts I asked, "Weren't you downstairs with Rain?"

"I came back up to get you." He said, smiling wider as if he'd just said some joke.

It was starting to freak me out. Logan never smiled like that. Like he…wanted to eat me or something.

"Listen, I need to talk to you in private." He said abruptly.

"This isn't private?" I asked, gesturing to the deserted hallway.

"No." he snapped. My eyes got wide. Why was he so irritated all of a sudden? From being happy/creepy to angry…it didn't track.

"In here." He said pushing me across the hall and into an empty classroom.

"Whoa, Logan, what's this about?" I asked, turning just in time to see his block the door with a chair.

"Logan?" I asked. He was scaring me and I didn't know what to do. I could put him down if I needed to get away, but why should I need to? Something was wrong, seriously wrong.

He leaned back against the door for a moment arms crossed and head down. All of a sudden his shoulders started shaking. I took a step foreword and quickly backpedaled as he lifted his head. He was laughing and he had a scary grin on his face.

"You wanna know something funny?" he growled. I backed up more shaking my head frantically. I started as I ran into a desk.

"Well, I'm gonna tell you anyways." He said shooting foreword. I'd forgotten how fast he was.

"I get to hurt you." He hissed in my ear. Unexpectedly he lifted me up and sat me back down on top of the desk, hard. I yelped as my butt hit the hard wood and he chuckled in a high pitched way that made shivers run down my neck.

"St-stop, Logan." I said pushing at his chest. The gesture was useless, but I wanted him to stop, please stop!

That's when he kissed me. It wasn't like kissing before; this hurt. He forced my mouth open and I choked. I couldn't breath. I started to cry which just seemed to piss him off, so he grabbed me and slammed me down against the desk.

"Shut up you little…" he growled, but was cut off.

"Mae?"

Oh God, whoever was looking for me, please, please, find me!

I took a chance and screamed as loud as I could, but all it got me was a punch to the stomach. I gasped and tried to double over, but he crawled over me and pinned my hands above my head.

He smirked in an evil way and started to hum something that seemed vaguely familiar as his free hand crept up my shirt.

Just then, I heard the door bang open.

"What the hell?"

I tried to see past Logan, but he was too big. Who had come to my rescue?

Logan jumped off me and I immediately curled into a ball. I felt a hand on my arm and I was pulled violently off the desk. I heard his claws zing out and then I had the surprisingly warm metal up against my neck.

I tried to see past my tears all I could make out was a blurry outline. I blinked rapidly and my eyes cleared.

It was Logan.

* * *

Both Logan's squared off.

"'Stique?" Logan-by-the-door asked, sniffing the air doubtfully.

"Do I smell like that stupid slut to you?" Other-Logan asked angrily. Then he started to…giggle. It erupted into outright laughing. I stood stock still, afraid that if I moved his claws would slice me.

Real-Logan looked on doubtfully. Doubt changed to anger and anger exploded into rage.

"Let her go." He demanded unleashing his claws with a snikt. My knees nearly buckled with relief. Logan was here, the _real_ Logan. I was safe. He wouldn't let this imposter do anything to me.

"No, don't think so. Y'see, I got some pretty specific orders from Big Brother." Other-Logan said. All of a sudden I felt a kind of…pressure in the air. No, not quite the air…my …mind, I guessed. From the look on Logan's face and the displaced air behind me I guessed that whoever it was, was changing.

The man behind me, for it was a man, was still taller then me by several inches, but shorter than Logan. His hands still had claws coming out of them though. His skin was pale with lots of freckles.

"Ah ah ah…" he warned Logan in a sing-song voice. "Musn't come no closer, must not, must not." He giggled again. He twisted his wrist and the claws came to rest on my shoulder piercing the thin cloth of my shirt easily.

"Little Sister you are so fragile. Killed many times, many. But you always rise again. Disappoints Big Brother. He doesn't want the Lost One around, no he don't." he said.

"Are you hurt enough? Did I do a good job?" he asked me cheerfully. I nodded carefully.

"Hmmm…I don't think so." He spun me around, claws inadvertently tearing through cloth and skin alike. I cried out as rivulets of blood ran down my arms. He crushed his lips to mine again and brought a fist up and under, punching me in the stomach again. All the breath went out of me in a whoosh.

Fresh tears ran down my cheeks and he licked me face. I heard Logan's furious growl.

"Yum yum. Got to go home and tell Big Brother you still taste good. That being with the mutt has not made you nasty."

I felt his fingers loosen around my arms and I nearly bolted, but they tightened at the last minute.

"Oh yeah! 'Don't forget, Little Brother.'" He said in a deeper voice. "'Give the Lost One something from me.'"

He giggled and spun me around to face Logan. He looked livid, but the man still had the claws and could kill me if he got too close. I felt something slip into my back pocket. Then with a giggle he vanished.

I collapsed to the floor and Logan ran to me.

"God, Mae, are you alright?" he asked.

I tried to nod, but scrambled around trying to get to my back pocket. What had he put in there?

I twisted around trying to get Logan to understand we needed to see what it was he gave me. He finally got it out and we both stared at it in disbelief.

What was it? It looked like…like…

Dynamite?

"Holy shit!" Logan yelled. He threw it and covered me with his body, right before the thing exploded.


	19. Domestic Fighting

**Hello all. I know I've been simply terrible and some of you right now are probably ready to beat me over the head with a stick, but I beg your patience. College is taking a lot more out of me then I expected. Just FYI, there are a couple more swear words then you're probably used to seeing in my stories, but I don't think that'll happen often. You are amazing readers and I look foreword to seeing your reviews. Thanks so much!**

**-quietcutie651**

As the last piece of brick and plaster fell down around us, the door opened and the cavalry arrived.

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"Jesus Christ!"

Logan ignored them and lifted himself off me just enough so that I was not being crushed by his metal skeleton.

"Where are you hurt?" he asked in a low voice. He wasn't more than three inches away from me.

"Logan, you idiot, get off of her! Give her some room to breath!" said Scott coming over and crouching by us.

Logan snarled at him and shoved him hard, sending him sprawling backwards in the dust.

"Stay away from her." He growled. He sat up, wrapping his arms around me to bring me up with him. I hugged him fiercely. He was being overly protective. I can't say I didn't appreciate it. Knowing my brother could be anyone in disguise freaked me out more than I'd care to admit.

He picked me up bridal style and I made myself as small as possible, burying my face into his chest. Everyone was quiet as he carried me out. But he paused as we were just outside the door. I looked up and saw it was Rain who looked so sad I thought my heart was break. It already felt like one of my ribs had.

She followed along behind us and when we got to our room, he locked the door. He set me down and Rain crawled up on the bed next to me.

I held her tight and tried to curl completely around her. My stupid brothers were ruining everything! I had just gotten Logan and they had to make me think that he could actually…

No. I wasn't going to think about it. He stood away from us with his arms crossed tightly as he leaned against the dresser.

I worried shortly about the fact that I'd ruined the sheets, but I pushed the thought from my mind. It seemed almost laughable in relation to everything else that had happened.

"What the hell was that?" he finally bit out as I sat up.

"My brother." I said, moving my shoulder around carefully, working out the kinks.

"Well what the _fuck_ does he want?" he growled. Rain flinched and linked her arm with mine, pressing her face into my arm.

"Stop shouting, Logan." I said firmly keeping my eyes planted on his forearms. He was getting upset and while I knew he'd never intentionally hurt me or Rain, I didn't want to be in the way when the claws made an appearance. Besides, how could I be completely sure that this was the real Logan? My heart thudded painfully in my chest.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please." He growled again, his voice reaching a new level. "What. Does. He. Want?"

"Oh, I don't know." I said starting to anger. I didn't understand why he was angry with me all of a sudden. "To kill me maybe? Somebody puts an explosive in your pocket you might start to get the picture."

"Don't talk to me like that." Logan said, irritated.

"Then _you_ don't talk to _me_ like that."

"Hey, I saved your _life_!"

"Then why are you angry at me!?" I asked, nearly shrieking. I jumped off the bed.

"I'm not angry at you!" he yelled, fists balling at his sides.

"Oh yeah?" I asked mimicking his stance. Fists tight at my sides, feet apart and leaning foreword slightly, ready to pounce. "Then why are you _yelling at me_!?"

"I…" Logan started and then stopped, closing his mouth and backing up a step. It was as if a light switched on in his brain. Like he hadn't even realized what he was doing. Too bad, now I was all worked up. "I don't…"

"You don't _what_, Logan? Know? Funny, neither do I!"

"Mae, I'm…"

"No!" I interrupted, hysterical. "No! I don't want to hear it! First, I'm nearly RAPED and then I'm nearly BLOWN UP and now you're mad at me for some stupid reason that I can't even begin to comprehend! What? What are you gonna say? That it's my fault? That I deserved it? That I'm just a stupid little girl who can't even defend herself? Well FUCK you!"

Logan's mouth fell open. I think it was the first time I'd ever cussed with any word stronger than 'crap'. He was thoroughly shocked. But I wasn't done yet. All my anger, all my fear, every insecurity I'd ever had bubbled up. All the hateful things I ever thought spilled out of my mouth. I heard what I was saying to him and felt sick, but I couldn't make myself stop.

"You arrogant, egotistical, ASSHOLE! Am I supposed to bow at your feet because you saved my life? I've gotten outta worse scrapes then that." I felt Charlie slip into my mind and take in the situation in a second.

**Mae…**

"Shut up!" I screamed. I heard my voice start to change. "You too! I hate the both of you! God, I hate everyone! I hate you all! My freakin' brothers tryin' to kill me, and Logan yellin' at me…"

To my horror, tears started to leak out of my eyes. My body shook and I erupted into sobs, knees buckling and sinking down to the floor. I sat on the floor shaking so hard I thought I might shatter if someone touched me. Through teary eyes, sniffles, and sobs I saw Logan's big boots come towards me hesitantly. He crouched by me and reached out, but I flinched away from his hand. He stilled, before rocking back on his heels heavily, landing hard on the floor, and scooting around me to lean against the bed.

I wiped at my eyes and tried to clean up my face a bit. I looked through my hair at Logan. He had his head in his hands, elbows resting against his knees. Rain was wrapped up in one of the big quilts and had been watching the whole thing with wide frightened eyes.

I thought about getting up and walking away. But I had Rain to think about. And Logan….Logan.

"Why are you mad at me?" I asked sniffing hard and wiping away snot and tears. Maybe, if I could understand, I could make it better.

"Mae." He said. He did not lift his head. I looked up into his face, hiccupping a little. "I…" he stopped clearing his throat. Charlie was in the back of mind urging him on.

**Go on, stupid, tell her!**

I didn't know what he was supposed to be saying to me. Charlie got impatient and started to push my powers to the front when Logan finally spoke.

"I'm not mad at you. I was just…I just…" he broke off with a sigh. "I'm shit at explaining things. I'm sorry ok?"

I paused while Charlie sighed. It wasn't ok. It was so far from ok, I could just scream. But I nodded brokenly and scooted towards him in the interest of keeping peace. We'd just have to shelve this issue for later. The adrenaline started to seep out of my system and I was dog-tired. I hugged him briefly head nodding against his shoulder. He stood up pulling me with him and the two of us lay down in bed. Rain was there in an instant snuggling against me, ignoring the bloody stains on my shirt and pants that now rubbed off on the sheets.

I clutched her to me tightly and heard both of Logan's boots hit the floor. Then he wrapped one solid arm around me and I was out like a light.

Funny how nearly dying will just take the energy right outta ya.


	20. Baby

**Good morning/afternoon/evening! I know the past couple of chapters have been short, but I'm trying to complete them and post them in a timely fashion. Please, have patience with me. (Things will be heating up {action wise} in another chapter or two.) Things are well and I enjoy reading your reviews. They make me smile. :D**

**-quietcutie651**

We woke later that day, just as the sun was setting. Logan practically rolled out of bed while I sat up, blinking sleepily. Rain was still out cold.

"Are you hungry?" Logan asked me, cracking his neck as he did so. I flinched, but nodded.

"Just give me a minute to…" I trailed off looking down at myself. My _clean_ self. I hadn't been clean last night or…wearing these clothes….I even had a couple of clumsy bandages over my cuts and a length of cloth wrapped around my cracked rib. I looked at Logan questioningly and he looked away face hardening.

"Logan, what…?"

"I couldn't stand it." He said bitingly in a voice that was a cross between anger, fear, sadness, and desperation.

"Couldn't stand what?"

"He turned to me, face blank, and said, "The smell of your blood." Then the words seemed to tumble out of his mouth faster then I'd ever heard him go, as if saying it faster would make it less bad. "I just picked you up and put you in the shower. You weren't really awake so I helped you get clean."

He looked at me anxiously. "I didn't touch you, I swear. Mae, I swear. I just couldn't… couldn't lie there are smell you bleed."

"It's ok, Logan." I told him reassuringly and stood, shuffling over to him slowly. I noticed, now that he'd said it, my hair was damp and while his was dry, it was sticking up every which way. I hugged him tightly, ducking my head against his chest and snuggling into him. He stilled, before briefly returning the hug. Then, barefoot and bare-chested, he picked up Rain,, who was slowly waking and the three of us made our way out in search of food.

We skirted past the main dining hall, where we could hear the sounds of dinner being eaten and we went into the small kitchen. Rain was fully awake by the time we got there.

She threw her arms around Logan's neck and said in the sweetest voice, "Good morning, Daddy!"

It threw him for a second and almost against his will he gave her a small smile.

"Good afternoon, Darlin'."

She giggled. "Darlin'." She repeated with his slight accent. She snuggled into her Dad.

Seeing them together like that made me feel all warm and fluffy. I smiled and started to notice the similarities between them. Their hair, dark and straight. Hers fell to just above her shoulders in a dark brown, almost black, wave. His mouth. She smirked the same way he did. Strangely, she even had the same ears as him. She'd had her ears pierced early in her life, but that was before either of us could remember.

Logan and her talked as he made her something to eat and it took me a moment to realize I wasn't hearing anything they were saying. I could see their mouths moving and Rain laughing, but it was as if someone pressed the mute button. Then as though the realization had triggered it, I was thrust into a vision.

"_Mornin' Darlin'." It was Logan. I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. It was difficult for some reason. As I looked down I discovered why. I was pregnant. I blinked in shock down at my big belly and watched as Logan came around to my side of the bed. He helped me up and into the main room. We were in a beautiful cabin. My mouth dropped open in amazement. A little girl with straight, dark hair ran up to me and hugged my leg. Rain. I was pregnant with another child. I gasped with shock and…-_

-was back in reality. Logan was kneeling over me shaking my shoulders while Rain stood behind him and looked over his shoulder with big scared eyes. I sat up slowly, one hand moving almost disbelievingly to my belly. I knew my expression must have been horrible, because Logan sounded so scared.

"Mae, what did you see? Mae! Talk to me, c'mon say something!"

"I…"

I couldn't even speak. Only one thought repeated itself over and over in my mind.

Where was my baby?

* * *

The rest of the X-Men were there in a flash, probably responding to the fear in Logan's voice.

"Why are you always so GODdamned late?!" Logan shouted, but Scott pushed him out of the way.

"Mae, are you alright?"

"No, she's not alright!" Logan said clamping a hand down on Scott's shoulder and pulling him back. They both ended up on their butts and it took everything in me not to laugh hysterically at their identical glares of frustration.

Ororo, always a calming presence, knelt by me and helped me up and into a chair.

"Now, child, what happened?" she asked me, pulling up a chair and sitting in it.

"I…I had a vision." I said in a small broken voice. I couldn't hardly believe it was me talking. My baby…where was my baby?

"Of what? What did you see?" asked Scott. Ororo sent him a hard stern look and he shut up.

"I was living with Logan, up North somewhere. It was snowing."

_White. All around us a soft blanket of white. I turned around, Logan was there holding a slightly smaller Rain. I was pregnant_…**pregnant**…

"And?" I couldn't tell who was talking to me. All the voices seemed to blur together. My vision was blurry, I had tears in my eyes.

"Where's my baby?" I whispered, finally voicing the concern that ate at me.

"She's right here." Logan. It was Logan voice. It was Logan who knelt in front of me, lifting up my chin.

"Look at me, baby. She's right here."

"No!" I insisted. "Where's my baby?"

"Mae, look." Logan said. His voice was shaking. "She's here. Right here in front of ya."

"Not Rain! My other baby!"

Silence. You could almost taste the shock in the air.

"Wh-what?" Scott finally asked. He broke the spell that held the others captive. They let go of the breath they'd been holding and sucked in a gulp of air. I didn't care. I ignored them.

"You ruined it for me." I told Logan. "You took the surprise out of it. You let slip it was a girl early on. _Where is my baby_?"

His mouth worked soundlessly. "I…I don't…"

"Where is she?" I howled. My heart broke in two. Here I was, living in a good home, with my family, but somewhere out there my baby was without us. Starving or already dead. I sobbed, wanting to rip out my heart and didn't react when Logan put his arms around me.

But then…

There was a soft touch on my shoulder a small whispered, "Mommy."

I straightened, turned. It was Rain, fiddling with the hem of her shirt and staring up at me from under her lashed with her big brown eyes.

I pulled her onto my lap and held her tight.

"Mommy."

"Yeah, baby?"

"I know where sissy is." She whispered into my hair.


	21. It's raining, Rain

**OMG, we have officially reached over 100 reviews. I am amazed and thankful to everyone for reading, for reviewing, for just being amazing you. You guys are awesome. I couldn't have done it without you. And we're not through yet!**

**-quietcuti651**

I froze, breath catching painfully in my chest.

"What?" I asked, sure I had heard wrong. "Wh-where is she?"

Rain squirmed on my lap, uncomfortable with the piercing open-mouthed stairs, silence, and tension that permeated the room. "Well, I don't _really_ know. Not for sure. But Grampa took her away after the bad men came."

I stared at her blankly. Grampa? Bad men? It was like she was speaking in riddles.

"Grampa? Who's 'Grampa'?"

"Your Daddy." She clarified, nodding at me. "He was nice. He said, he said, that he hadda take her away 'cause she was sick."

_I_ felt sick. I thought I might just throw up. I looked around helplessly at no one in particular, uncertainly until my eyes landed on Logan's. His face was white, although he kept his face guarded.

"What…" it was the first time he'd spoken since the revelation. We had more than one child. But _where_ was my _baby_? He was on his knees in front of my, one hand on my arm. It clenched painfully before he asked, "What'd she look like?"

"I don't know." Rain told him sadly, shrugging. "She wasn't out of Mommy's tummy yet."

Both of us gaped at her. She hadn't…I'd still been…_Where was she_? Had I gotten an abortion? If I had, why had I? And who was this Grampa? My father? And the bad men…

I groaned aloud, putting a voice to my frustration. Logan pulled both me and Rain off the chair and into his lap and he clung to us with a silent desperation that bordered on panic.

The room was silent for about a half a second before all hell broke loose. A huge explosion rocked the building and everyone was knocked off their feet.

"What the fu-…!"

"Logan! Get downstairs, see what's going on!"

Screams floated up and the sounds of powers being unleashed reached us. Another explosion, smaller this time. There weren't as many screams…

"No way, Scooter!" Logan gathered us closer to him and lifted us into the air. "I'm getting you guys outta here."

He set me down carefully, but kept Rain in his arms. She clung to him tightly as we ran down the hallways.

We emerged from the mansion at breakneck speed running towards the forest. Sounds of a battle flew through the air to us as we ran, fueling our desire to put as much space between us and the mansion as possible.

"Keep going!" Logan yelled as I tripped and fell. He skidded to a stop and turned back to grab me by the arm and pull me to my feet. I followed him deeper into the dim forest. We came to a stop in a clearing I'd never seen before. It seems Logan knew this place better than anyone.

Without warning a blood-chilling howl ripped through the air. I dropped to the ground, whimpering and cowering, without knowing why. I peeked up at Logan. He was sniffing the air, eyes darting around.

**MAE!**

_Charlie! Charlie, please, help! HELP! _

I felt a scream bubbling up from my toes. I clamped my mouth shut trying to keep it in. I started to cry.

_Help, Charlie, please, oh God…_

I started to sob uncontrollably. My power suddenly boosted and Logan and Rain's auras' were blinding. I covered my eyes with my arm.

"Mae, c'mon, get over here." I tried to look at Logan, but the light was too bright. I shook my head. I was petrified. I couldn't move an inch, except to shake in terror.

**Don't stop! Keep moving! Get outta there! They can **_**smell**_** you, they can…they're practically on top of you! MOVE! MAE, NOW. **_**MAE**_**!**

It was too late. A dark figure broke through the woods. I terrified scream ripped from my throat.

I sensed Logan, through his aura, take a few panicked steps backwards. I felt his and Rain's auras separate.

"No!" I shrieked. "Get her out of here! LOGAN, GET HER OUT OF HERE!"

I felt him pause indecisively.

"GO!" I screamed. I tried to urge my uncooperative limbs into working, but it was no use. The dark figure took a few heavy steps foreword.

On four paws.

I gasped breathlessly, scrambling away from the monster of my nightmares. Or at least trying to. I wasn't getting very far. The thing barked and I could virtually see the satisfied smirk on its muzzle and the blood-lust in its rotten little eyes. It howled and I gave another terrified shriek.

Suddenly, there was an arm wrapping around my waist. I sucked in a breath to scream, but stopped as I realized it was Logan. He took off, with the both us further into the forest. To my surprise, we broke through the forest not a minute later.

There were no sounds of pursuit so Logan set the both us down. Rain immediately wrapped her little arms around my waist and snuggled her face into my hip.

"Are you okay, mommy?"

I took a deep, shaking breath and let it out in a rush. I dropped to one knee to look her in the eyes.

"We're gonna be okay. Nobodies gonna hurt you."

"Yeah, but are _you_ okay?"

I choked and pulled her into a hug. We broke apart and I looked up at Logan. He'd made his way to the top of a little hill and the sun was setting behind his back. It created a halo of light around him and I stood up, holding Rain's hand.

"We've got to keep mo-…!" he started, before being shoved violently. He tumbled down the hill and stopped at my feet. Our eyes met and we both looked up. The sun had finally gone down and the only illumination came from Logan and Rain's auras and the moon. Still, as dark as it was, I could see the man standing on the hill.

"I guess I should tell you," The man said glaring down at us with a malicious grin. "I always win at King of the Hill."

Ryan.

I whimpered, pushing Rain behind me.

Logan had gotten to his feet at some point and now he growled. He let his claws slide out slowly and the light of the moon glinted off them impressively.

"Ah, ah, ah." Ryan said as Logan started up the hill to him. "I wouldn't play this game with one as exultant as myself. Besides," he said with a strange look. "I play dirty."

It was then that a shadow darted out from behind him, zigzagging down the slope to Logan. Logan took a swipe at him, but missed. The shadow continued downwards towards me. I tried to backpedal, but had forgotten Rain behind me. I tripped and ended up bringing her down with me. The aura-less shadow stood over us. Suddenly it developed a face.

Aidan.

"Hello, little sister!" he crowed. He spotted Rain and crouched down to her level. "And hello to you, little one. Do you enjoy death?"

I put a hand around her shoulders. He turned his strangely empty smile on me. "Little sister." Then to Rain. "Little niece."

"Aidan!" Ryan called. As he turned a scrambled away from him started for the forest. But another shadow appeared in front of me. It growled and I recoiled. The giant wolf.

It gave a pained scream as it's bones snapped and skin tore to form a human skeleton.

Brantley.

He took hold of my shoulder in an iron grip and spun me around marching me back to the group. He shoved sending me face first into the dirt.

"Mommy!" Rain called. She started to run to me, but Brantley grabbed hold of her collar and pulled her back. She struggled against him twisting and pushing at his hand. He raised a hand to hit her.

"Don't you dare hurt my baby!" I screeched at him, from my knees.

"Very well." He said. His voice gave me chills. My eyes widened as he stalked foreword, dragging Rain with him. I saw his hand raise….

I blacked out for a second before I hit the ground.

"Hey!" I heard Logan shout. My equilibrium was shot so when I tried to get up the world spun frighteningly.

I put my forehead against the ground as I tried to get the earth to still.

"As much as I'd love to stay and catch up," I heard Ryan drawl. "We're actually on a schedule. Aidan, Brantley - let's wrap this up."

That sounded ominous…

Suddenly, I felt a steel toed boot connect with my stomach. Then another on my spine. Then stomping on my side, stepping on my fingers. I felt one settle on my head as Logan and Rain screamed in rage.

"Stay there, mutt." Ryan warned. "Or she dies."

The boot pressed down on my skull threatening to crush me. Then, to my surprise, they let up. I lifted my head carefully as I heard them walk away. The world had settled down enough for that, at least.

Logan looked positively livid. Rain…where was…

Oh my God.

"Logan, Logan stop them!" I shouted, pointing at my brothers. Brantley still had his hand on Rain's shoulder and was leading her away.

"Stop! Stop! No, don't, please! PLEASE!" I screamed. They ignored me, except to pick up their pace. I scrambled up, wobbling and falling on my face again. Logan was running up after them and paused to help me up.

"Don't worry about me!" I sobbed. "Get her, get Rain!"

They were at the top of the hill and Logan and I were almost there.

"No, please, Ryan, brother, don't do this. Please." I implored holding my hands out to him. "Please."

"Farewell, sister." He said before jumping and hovering three feet above the ground. I screamed in fury and jumped foreword reaching for Rain. They vanished as I snagged her sleeve. I fell heavily to the ground, empty handed. The air had been knocked out of me and I gasped fruitlessly. Eventually, I got oxygen back into my lungs.

Not that it mattered. She was gone. My God, Rain….my baby…

Logan howled. Like a clichéd movie it started to rain. Rain. Oh, the agony of irony. And as the rain poured down on us and Logan sunk to his knees I rolled over, facing my humiliation. I breathed in the darkness and the pain and the rain. Then I exhaled.

And with that breath, as it left my body, so did all my will to live. I didn't bother to breath in again. And as darkness finally came in and robbed the last of my consciousness I almost smiled.

Almost.


	22. Logan's POV

**I feel like such a bad person. It's been more than a month and I'm awful. So here is Chap. 22. It's in Logan's POV, which is always interesting to write in. I know what I'm doing for Chap. 23 so no worries. I'll have that up soon. Thanks for hangin' in there and not strangling me through the computer.  
**

**-quietcutie651**

**BTW, the nose thing. That's how you really fix a broken nose.  
**

Logan shut off the shower a little harder than necessary and heard the metal under his fingers creak alarmingly. He snatched the towel off the rack and it whip lashed back at him. He dried off with a furious glare at his reflection, which stared back at him just as angrily. He wanted to howl until the sound tore his throat. That would never happen of course with his damned healing power. Still, he wanted to hurt. Hurt himself or hurt those bastards that took…

He choked suddenly and pressed the towel over his face to smother the sound. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes until he saw spots and the feeling of overwhelming despair passed. He exhaled solidly drawing in another breath sharply. He took another steadying breath before wrapping the towel around his waist and venturing carefully out into the bedroom.

Mae was just as he had left her. Laying on her back staring at the ceiling with a blank expression. She was half covered with a blanket, spread eagled, just as she'd been when she woke up. She hadn't moved a single muscle except to blink and breath, although he could tell that she wanted to stop even that.

She didn't move as he sat down on the edge of the bed running a hand over his face.

"Mae?" He asked. She didn't acknowledge him. He knew she wouldn't have. Standing with disappointment he got dressed.

Three days. Three days had passed since that screwed up family had snatched Rain right from under their noses. He clamped his hands down hard on the counter top of the dresser. The sharp edge bit into his palms. The pain was familiar and he twisted his hands against the edge, causing his skin to break and blood to run down his palms. A knock at the door broke him out of his self destructive train of thought.

"Hey Scooter." Logan said softly staring past Scott's shoulder.

"What did you do?" Scott asked in a tight voice. He was looking down at Logan's hands. Logan scowled and wiped his now healed hands on his pants. Scott gave him a disapproving frown and tried to look past Logan's shoulder.

"Is she up yet?" he asked in small clipped words.

"No. She hasn't….no."

"Alright." Scott said drawing himself up to his full height. Logan's alarm went off.

"What…" Logan started to ask, but it was too late. Scott brushed past him into the room and took in the scene in an instant. Mae was ignoring them both.

"What are you…"

"Shut up for a minute Logan." Scott snapped. Logan raised an eyebrow at him, but quieted down for a moment.

"Enough is enough Mae. It's time to get up." Scott scolded. Logan straightened in surprise when Mae rolled her head to look at him. He'd never seen a look so ferocious out of such a little person. Then as quickly as it had come it was gone and she rolled her head back with a sad little sigh.

"Go away, Scott." She said in a small voice. It's the first thing she's said for days.

"No." he said. "Either you get up now or _I'll_ get you up."

Her eyes flashed at him, but she remained where she was.

"Ok. Don't say I didn't warn you." Scott said with a shrug, starting foreword.

"Hey, Boy Scout, dontcha think…?"

"I think that she's had enough time to sulk."

"This isn't plain old teenager sulking." Logan argued, stepping up to glare at Scott. "Her kid was kidnapped. Give her some space."

"Look what space has done for her Logan." Scott said sweeping a hand over Mae's form. "Absolutely nothing. She's not going to get any better lying here for a week. I knew you wouldn't think of doing anything to upset her. So that responsibility fell to me." He turned to Mae with a grim smile. "Get up."

"No." she said.

"If you don't get cleaned up I wont let you into the War Room and then how will you hear our plan for getting Rain back?" He asked her. We both held our breath. She looked at him and then at me, eyes flickering back and forth between us. She grabbed the blanket and threw it over her head hiding her face.

"Mae!" Scott said angrily.

"Rain's gone!" she said. "She's not coming back. They took her and they…they'll…" she sobbed. "They'll kill her! She's already dead! Don't you get it? They don't…they wont take mercy on her 'cause she's a child. She's MY child, which means that she's lower than dirt."

"Mae. That's not true. We can still get her." Scott said. He moved foreword and sat gingerly on the bed. Logan followed him, but stayed standing, arms crossed.

"No we can't." she snapped. Scott jerked back with the force of her sudden anger. Logan eyed her uncertainly. "Oh, sure, she's not dead yet. They'll keep her alive for a _long_ time."

"We _will_ get her back." Scott said firmly. He put a hand on her shoulder and her entire body jumped like she was just electrocuted.

"Mae!" Logan shouted. He pushed Scott out of the way gathering Mae up in his arms. She was shaking violently, her face scrunched up. Scott wrenched Logan back to get a better look at Mae.

"What's happening, Summers?" Logan demanded hovering over Mae. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's having a seizure." Scott said sternly. "Move!"

Out of fear Logan did as Scott told him and stood up, backing away far enough to be out of the way, but not out of arms reach. Scott turned her on her side, but suddenly she stopped shaking. She started to cough, great big whooping hacks that came from deep in her chest, that made Logan wince with sympathy. Without warning, blood sprayed out of her mouth.

"Shit!" said Scott. He moved as if to pick her up, but as soon as he touched her, she punched him right in the nose. He reeled back, clutching his face and cursing. Logan pushed him aside and grabbed her flailing arms. She started to scream.

"No! No, Stop! Please, please don't! Brother! Make them stop! Please! _Please_!" She kicked and struggled against invisible assailants, jerking and twitching as if someone was beating her. He crushed her to him tightly praying for whatever it was to stop. Although he realized now, it was probably a vision. He'd never seen her drop into one so violently before.

"Mae, you're safe. You're at the mansion." His voice wavered.

"Make them stop!" she cried breathlessly. "I'm a good girl, I promise. I promise!"

Rage bubbled up in Logan's chest. He pushed aside the fear and let his all-consuming anger flood him. It was so much easier than fear. He understood it better. He let it wash over him and through a red haze, he cradled Mae to him softly, whispering nonsensical words at her.

She finally quit screaming, although she kept coughing up blood, choking on the crimson liquid.

Scott moved in Logan's peripheral vision, still clutching his nose. She'd broken it and his face was starting to turn purple.

There was a pounding knock on the door and Scott stumbled to it and pulled it open.

"What the hell happened to your face?" asked a voice. Logan wasn't paying enough attention to tell by sound who it was, but his nose never failed. That stink the Cajun marinated in was God awful.

"Mae hit me." Scott said thickly, tripping over the words.

"You got owned by a girl?" caroled someone else. St. John most likely. "Dude, you are so lame!"

"Shut it, Allerdyce." Scott snapped.

"It looks broken." Commented LeBeau. "You should go down to Hank and get it checked."

Logan heard Summers grumble at him wordlessly. He was loathe to leave Mae's side, even for a second, but he wanted to hurt something and fixing Boy Scout's nose was going to be a perfect outlet.

"Come here, Summers." He growled. Scott turned and looked at him warily. He walked over by him, but stopped just out of arms reach.

"Hold him." He said to Gambit and Pyro. They moved foreword quickly and held Scott in place who suddenly had a foreboding feeling about this.

"Hey, look, I'm alright. I'll go down to Hank and get it looked at." His voice rose in panic as Logan approached him silently. "Let go of me! Stop, I'm fine!"

"Hold still, ya whimp." Snarled Logan. "Hank's just gonna do the same thing, and frankly I think you'd prefer me to do it."

Logan couldn't see Scott's eyes, but he would've bet money they were wide with fear. Without warning he jammed his fingers as far up Boy-Scout's nose as they'd go and cranked them to the right. Scott near screamed with pain as blood started to flow freely again.

With a grimly satisfied smirk Logan removed his fingers and wiped them on Scott's annoyingly clean button-down.

Logan sat on the bed again as Scott kept cursing.

"Gross." John said with an appreciative grin.

"Get outta here." Logan told him. He quickly turned tail and ran. Gambit took Scott by the arm and led him out slowly.

When they were alone he sat silently and watched her carefully. The bleeding stopped and she was quiet. Her mouth was moving silently.

He wondered what she was trying to say until he realized…_she's singing to herself._

It was a long time 'til either of them moved.


	23. Rain

Rain stood in front of her vanity mirror, dolls scattered at her feet. She examined the fractured lines of glass that made her reflection twist into ugly faces. There was a timid knock at the door and she turned silently to watch a frightened young girl slip in. She couldn't have been much older than the young princess herself, yet she curtseyed carefully and set upon the task of making Rain's bed.

Rain watched her without much expression. She had never seen this girl before. Three others had come and woken her this morning. Rain had struggled at first, even going so far as to reach out and hit one of them. She had shouted for them to leave her alone, that she wanted her mommy, but they'd ignored her. They'd dressed her, after a fight, and all but one left, who stayed to brush her hair.

The girl left her room, shutting the door behind her and Rain turned back to the mirror. The dolls at her feet had been there when she woke up, neatly put up on the dresser, obviously for her enjoyment, and when she'd taken one down to examine it she dropped it in shock. It was a grotesque parody of her father's face. Horrified, she'd pulled another one off the shelf which turned out to be her mother.

Distressed beyond reason she'd flung the doll to the ground and reached for another. An entire collection of dolls, all with twisted faces, like hers in the mirror. All representations of her friends. She recognized 'Roro, Big Blue, Grampa X, Remy, Marie, Nick, Jubie…

With a cry she wiped her arm across the counter top knocking them all to the floor. In dismay at what she had done she sat on the ground, too stunned for tears. Her throat closed up with suppressed emotion and her little body shook with fear and anguish…

Another knock at the door interrupted her reverie. She stared in the mirror as the door opened.

"Rain. Brother wants to see you." It was that big one, she thought. The silent brooding one that towered over her, like a great dark mountain, whose face was obscured by clouds.

She ignored him.

"Rain."

Still, she ignored him.

"Stubborn brat-child." He snarled. His heavy boot steps pounded across the floor to her. She turned in alarm as he reached her quickly, his eyes fading from black to red and back again as he struggled to hold in the monster.

He grasped her by the upper arms and dragged her through the air up to his eye-level. She was so close she could smell the stink of blood and wine on his breath. She struggled to lean back, revolted.

"You will learn," he whispered in short angry words. Words that sounded more like growls and hisses than any human noise she'd ever heard. "To obey me. Big Brother is not here right now. I suggest you realize the precarious position you find yourself in. He may be indulging his stupid little fantasy, but I…" he took a deep breath. "I'd rather kill you now and have done with it."

She stared at him with fear and revulsion and he dropped her suddenly. She just barely caught herself from falling flat on her face.

"Now." He said, straightening out his clothes. "Follow me." He turned on his heel and walked through the field of broken dolls. He paused as Rain hesitated and crushed the head of one under his heel.

She sucked in a breath. It had been her fathers. Dejected and dismayed at the loss of her doll, she followed him with bowed head. He sneered at her, but opened the door for her like a gentlemen.

She knew that this was going to drive her insane if she wasn't careful. Yet all she had to do was wait. Mom and Dad would come and rescue her.

They'd see.


	24. Hunger

**Alrighty then. I know it's been an agonizing wait, but on top of college and Youth group stuff and trying to juggle thirty things at once, I've had writers block. It's excruciating. I've had a dozen break-thrus on a different story, but this one has just been....ugh. So to appease the people who are probably ready to chop my head off, I whipped up this little interlude. I'm trying to figure this out. I know where I'm going, it's just the problem of how to get there. Reviews make me think faster. ;)**

**-quietcutie651**

The blood was rushing to my head as I watched the second hand on the clock tick by with an agonizing slowness. The upside down motion of the clock was mesmerizing me. Logan walked through the door and eyed my odd position, plate of food still resting on my belly, while my hair brushed the floor. Upside-down Logan walked over and sat down next to me, lifting the untouched plate off of me and onto the nightstand beside the bed. I held my hand up and he helped me right myself.

"You didn't eat." He accused as I acclimated to being upright again. The blood draining from my head left me with an odd feeling of weightless dizziness.

"I'm not hungry."

"Eat." He insisted, handing the plate back to me. "You need your strength."

"How can I eat," I asked tightly, "When they're doing God-knows-what to her?"

"Mae…"

"No. I wont do it. If she doesn't eat, then neither do I."

"Being stubborn isn't going to help Rain!" Logan said crossly. "If you wanna save her then you're goin' to need every bit of energy that you can get. We get energy by eating. So eat."

"No, Logan! I don't want to!"

"Too bad." He said. He picked up the fork and stabbed a bit of meat with it, holding it up to me and looking at my mouth pointedly. "Open up."

"No!" But he was quicker than I was and got the food in my mouth before I could close it. He smirked triumphantly as I choked on my dinner.

"You're a meanie." I coughed out. Then, suddenly ravenous, I took the plate from him and started eating on my own.

"I want to inform you." I told him between bites. "That I'm not enjoying this."

"Ok." He said unconcernedly.

I conceded defeat and ate until I was full.

"So when are we leaving?" I asked him flopping down on my stomach beside him. He'd been right about the energy. I was practically buzzing with adrenaline.

"Tonight. As the kids are having dinner. We'll suit up and head out." He said, stretching out.

Thoughts that I'd been suppressing, bubbled to the surface. I knew that if I thought about my issues they'd just spiral out of control and away with me.

"Logan," I asked uncertainly. "Do you think she's still…"

"Don't think like that." He commanded, tensing up. "She's fine. She's okay."

His eyes went blank as he retreated into himself. "She's gotta be okay."


	25. I'm Back

**I AM BACK! Y'all miss me? After an awful couple-of-month absence, I am pleased to anounce my return to the world of ! The next few chapters are relatively short, however, do not fear. Thanks to all of you for your understanding and patience and thanks to everyone who has reviewed and to those who have followed the story from the beginning. You are all just _amazing! _And a special shout-out to my Auntie MaryJane without whom I never could've written the last couple of chapters. Thank you!**

**-quietcutie651**

"Alright." Said Scott, standing at the head of the dark wooden table. "We know what were doing, who were doing it to, and when were doing it. The problem…" He turned his head to the giant map of the world that covered every inch of the wall next to us. "Is _where_."

He nodded to me. "And that's where you come in."

I fisted my hands into the leather of Logan's jacket, tensing as I thought about what I had to do.

I'd never intentionally had a vision. They'd always been placed on me by whatever higher power deemed them necessary to my already screwed up life. Besides, I hadn't any idea how to begin to force one.

"I don't know, Scott." I said, trying to keep my voice even. "I've never….I don't know how…"

"It's ok." Said Logan quietly. "It's fine. Just try."

I inhaled slowly, trying to calm myself down. My heart was pounding so hard my ribs were creaking. I got up from Logan's lap and approached the map slowly. The world was just so big…

On a whim, I put my hands on the map and closed my eyes, calling for Charlie.

_Charlie, can you hear me?_

…

_I need your help._

…

_Char-!_

Without warning a pair of hands clamped down on my shoulders, pulled me back, and down. I shouted out for Logan and braced myself for impact with the floor, but was disoriented when I just kept falling. My body convulsed, still falling, as I searched for purchase. I twisted in the air trying to see the ground, see how far I still had to fall. But there was only darkness. My mind flailed under the impossible. I couldn't keep falling forever, but there was no end to the hole. I started to hyperventilate, gasping for breath, but it felt like no matter how much air I got into my lungs it wasn't enough.

"Logan!"

I tried to shout, tried to scream for him, but nothing worked. All I could manage was a half-choked whisper.

Panic built in my chest as it got cold and I still couldn't breathe properly. My eyes wouldn't work right, my limbs were heavy, and I felt my pulse pounding in my ears. Unexpectedly there were hands on me again and I fought them as hard as I could.

**Calm down.**

_Charlie? What…what's happening?_

**I'm finding Rain. Stay still.**

I willed my heart to stop beating as fast and closed my eyes. When I opened them, it looked like I was at the far end of a long tunnel with my eyes two spots of light. I watched the outside world with interest.

--

I'd jumped out of my seat the moment she shouted. She twitched violently, starting to crumple to the floor. I caught her, falling to my knees, when suddenly she stopped. She blinked rapidly a couple of times at the ceiling and then turned her eyes on me. The growl escaped my throat before I could think about it. Her eyes had gone from warm chocolate brown to blue in a matter of seconds.

It was her brother Charlie.

"Get outta her!" I snarled in Mae's face. She blinked at me before her blank face warped into an ugly frown.

"Get off of her." She (he?) said. Her voice sounded distorted. He was probably unused to her vocal chords.

Her little hands came up and pushed at my chest. I stood, bringing her up with me. I had a hold of her upper arms and brought her face to face with me.

"Bring her back now!"

"I'm trying to help, you obnoxious prick!"

"Now!"

"Logan –please-!" Scott said. He was staring at the two of us with uncertainty. In the moment of silence that followed, Mae ripped herself out of my grasp and stomped over to the map.

"Bastard." I heard her mutter.

The knot in my gut tightened, despite my knowledge that Mae was buried deep in her own subconscious. This blue-eyed devil wasn't the same person, no matter how much she looked like her. She kept sweeping her hands over the map circling closer to Europe. She paused over England and then moved north towards Scotland. It looked like she was playing hot and cold with the geography. Warm, now cold, and back again in the other direction. As her hands settled over Northern Scotland she twitched, her eyebrows drawing together in concentration. Her lips compressed into a thin line as she obviously fought something deep in her own psyche.

"Stop it!" she barked to herself. "I've almost got it." A shiver ran through her whole body and Mae's eyes rolled in her head. She doubled over, holding her stomach. She looked green. After a moment, she seemed better and straightened slowly, her knees wobbly.

"He found it." she said softly, still trying not to be sick. "Douglas castle. My God, he actually did it."

I stepped forward and looked into her eyes. They were brown again. Sighing in relief, I drew her into my arms. She wrapped her fingers in my jacket. I looked her over then, smelling her distress. Her eyes kept slipping out of focus and her pupils danced crazily.

"Close your eyes, I got ya." I said.

She did and sunk further into my embrace. She muttered something into my chest, so soft I couldn't even hear it.

"Mmm?"

"I said," she said. "When do we leave?"


	26. Panic

It was abundantly clear that I was in no condition to fight, but I insisted on coming along.

"You don't think I'm going to let you run off and face certain doom on your own, do you?" I asked weakly. It drew a couple of wan smiles from Rogue and Gambit, but no one was laughing. They knew this was dangerous, despite having no knowledge of my brothers' true capabilities. They couldn't possibly know how dangerous this was.

And I didn't know how many friends I might not come home with.

Logan strapped me into my seat on the plane and checked my forehead again. I really didn't feel good.

"You should stay home." Logan said. I knew he didn't want me coming along, but still. Rain was my child too and I told him as much. His jaw was set and tense as the Blackbird lifted off. I could practically hear 'Roro's teeth grinding as we approached the proper speed. She was so kind and just as worried as I was about Rain.

"Do you understand how this is gonna work?" asked Scott from the cockpit. "You realize that you're not coming with us."

"You know as well as I do, I'm not staying here when Rain needs me."

"Mae, you need to stay here. You're in no condition to fight."

"That's bull. So I might barf in the middle of kicking Aidan's butt, so what? I can't just sit here..." I said, feeling my tension rising. Rain was my daughter, why couldn't they understand that? Didn't they have any respect for me? Maybe they didn't...

"Look, we can't be focused in there if were constantly worried about where you are."

"He's right, petite, maybe you oughtta stay in de plane..." added Remy.

"Stay out of it, Cajun!" I hissed, feeling angrier than I ought to. "Did we ask for your opinion?"

I had twisted in my seat to meet his strange eyes threateningly. He was quiet for a moment, eyes searching mine for something.

"Sorry, chere."

I sneered at him before dropping myself roughly back into my seat. I pulled at the straps holding me in the chair, snarling when they refused to budge. It was suffocating this plane, these people....

"Breath, Darlin'." said Logan. I realized I was hyperventilating. Anger was quickly turning to panic. I swallowed hard as the plane banked a couple of degrees and yelped as we hit a spot of turbulence. I couldn't get my breathing under control as we flew on. My knuckles were white as my hands clenched on the harness holding me down. Holding me down...strangling me...I whined high in my throat.

"Baby, stop." Said Logan, unbuckling himself. "Stop, it's okay. You're okay. Breathe."

"I am breathing!" I cried hysterical. "I'm breathing and...I just can't catch my breath! Logan what's happening?"

He was silent for a moment, trying to keep his face impassive, but I could feel his heart rate increase, feel his aura pulse with fear.

"Are your shields down?" he asked finally. "Mae, check your shields."

I nodded and closed my eyes prodding my mind for the wall. I couldn't find it. My mind flailed under the onslaught of emotions. I tried to focus on the wall. Red brick. A tall, red brick wall. Sturdy, reliable, red brick. I squeezed my eyes shut until that was all I could see: red. I rebuilt my shattered shields as quickly as I could. I remained focused on that until a sudden jolt brought me back to awareness.

"We're a couple of miles outside the castle." Scott said, flipping a switch so that a holographic image of the terrain and building appeared. "Here's the plane, and there's the entrance to the castle."

He paused leaning on the edge of the consol. "I don't know what were going to find in there. I want everyone to be extra careful. You see anything strange, you hear anything strange, call an adult member of the team."

"Remy is an adult." he sniffed.

"A fact that we're all aware of Gumbo." Logan said looking disapprovingly at Rogue and the red eyed Cajun.

"Alright," said Scott, calling the attention away from Remy. "Let's focus. Move out."


	27. Doubt

**Hey, I just got back from a superb time at my best friend's house. Yeah, I was there for a week and it was awesome! Here's the next short chappie. Patience please...next chapter will be longer. :)**

**-quietcutie651**

The team stopped at the edge of the forest and eyed the outside of the castle. Tattered red banners with a strange emblem fluttered in the almost nonexistent breeze. Night was just about to fall and the sun's dying rays cast the flags in an eerie light.

"Are we just supposed to...walk up to it?" asked Kitty uncertainly.

"It certainly seems that way." said Hank.

"It's as if they knew we were coming." added Kurt.

"Of course they knew we were coming." I said trying to tone down my exasperation. I knew the anger was foreign, but at this point, not even my shields were blocking it very well. "They threw a goddamned party."

I blinked in surprise. A party? Where did I pick up that thought? I reinforced my shields again.

"We should scout around the perimeter to see if there are any other ways in." said Scott. "You know, servants quarters, secret exits...something."

"They've planned for that. They know we're coming, they know we're cautious..." I laughed dryly. "They know everything."

"They expect us to walk right through the front doors?" asked Peter. He seemed skeptic, and rightly so.

"That's what were going to have to do, I guess." said Jubilee. "What other choice is there?"

I looked to Logan. He was silent, looking at the castle speculatively. "What if..."

"What if what, Logan?" asked Rogue.

"I could climb up into the window, there, see? I could check it out and then open the door, or clear a passage through...somewhere else."

Scott's jaw was set; tense. "Logan I can't send you in there by yourself. We don't know what these people are capable of, or what's in there."

Logan's eyes were distant, staring at the castle. He didn't seem to register Scott's words. He moved silently past the group eyes still fixed on the window fifty feet above the ground. I grabbed his arm as he tried to pass me without a word.

"Logan?"

With some reluctance, he tore his eyes away from the castle and focused on me. I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. He seemed to sense that so he swooped in and kissed me instead. I tried to will him the words I couldn't articulate. Find Rain. Save her. Help me. Love me. I love you. We broke apart and he pressed his lips against my forehead briefly. Through my paper-thin shields, I could feel something strange in his aura.

It wasn't like him to be so mellow before fighting. He was usually riling himself up; getting his adrenaline rush. Now he jogged to the wall of the castle. I saw the gleam of his claws as he released them and he dug them into the wall and pulled himself up. He gained speed as he went and reached the window in no time at all. He punched through it and disappeared into the darkness. I heard Scott's radio crackle to life.

"Logan, report."

Silence. My eyes flew to Scott's. He made a 'calm-down' gesture and tried again.

"Logan. What do you see?"

I turned my back on the group, head in my hands. The look on their faces was terrifying. They were scared. Who wouldn't be? What could take Logan down? Did we have any chance in the world? A telltale crackle of incoming talk interrupted my thoughts. I spun around and waited for him to speak.

"London Bridge is falling down; falling down, falling down; London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady..."

The voice singing in a falsetto child's voice made me shudder. It wasn't Logan's, but it was familiar and unnerving. It suddenly erupted into broken giggles and gasps of pain.

"Mae-Mae, you're boyfriend isn't very nice...."

I stifled a sob. Scott glanced at me before clicking the button on the radio.

"Who is this?" he demanded. "Where is Logan?"

The voice cackled. "Logan, Logan, Logan, Logan, Logan! Where could the big wolf man be? Where oh where is the mutt? I don't know. He was taken. Ohhhh, this toy is _fun_!"

"Who took him?" Scott asked. "Who!"

"He went to rest with the other mongrels. We are not pleased with him. He didn't last long."

I gasped a shaky breath. I hadn't realized I'd been holding it. Didn't last long? Did that mean he was...no, he couldn't be...

The voice laughed again. "You want him back? Come claim him." Then there was a loud crunch.

Scott eyed the radio. "Bastard crushed it. We'll just have to go in and take them back."

"You sure that's wise homme?" asked Remy. "Whoever it is in there just took down The Wolverine. In seconds. We even got a chance?"

"We can't leave him." protested Peter. He strode foreword, pushing past Remy. "Go back to the plane if you want. I'm not leaving my friend behind."

The others followed the bigger man quietly past the trees that concealed them and quickly across the space between the castle and forest.

Remy shook his head and looked down at Rogue. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." She said and then turned, arm in arm with him, to follow the others.

Scott and Ororo were the only ones left with me in the clearing. I covered my mouth with my hand and turned away.

"Mae." said Scott. I felt his hand come down on my shoulder softly and Ororo on my other side, did the same. "We'll get them."

I took a deep breath and nodded. The three of us made our way to the front doors of the looming castle.

My family was in trouble. We had to get them back.


	28. Chapter 28

**As always, apologies for the delay and the length of the chapter. The next one will probably show up around New Years. Reviews are always welcome.**

**~quietcutie651**

Our group spread out along the walls next to the huge wooden double doors that announced the entrance of the castle. Scott and Ororo took the lead on both sides while the rest of the team, the younger ones, lined up behind them to back them up. I was the last one on the right. On Scott's signal, the doors were blasted open by an over enthusiastic Jubilee and the team's rushed foreword. I lingered for a moment, fearing what I would find when I caught up with Logan and Rain. Pausing to redouble my shields, I jogged through the remnants and pieces of wood.

I gasped in horror and stopped short at the sight that greeted me. The entire team had been taken out without any sound, or struggle. Ryan, Brantley, and Aidan stood over their bodies grinning, gloating, and beckoning me foreword. I choked on tears as my eyes searched out every wound, trying to determine if it was fatal. Scott's scalp was a red mess of caked blood. Ororo was similar, crimson blood streaking through her long white hair. Some of the others had stab wounds and claw marks and were left moaning or unconscious on the floor. Others still, didn't have a mark on them.

"Hey little sister." said Ryan with a lopsided grin. I squeaked when he addressed me and Brantley and Aidan chuckled softly. Instinctively, I ducked my eyes, avoiding eye contact and focusing on my friends. I couldn't summon up enough courage to speak so I settled for shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Aw look!" squawked Aidan. "She's scared. Poor stupid little thing!"

"We have a surprise for you sister." Ryan said, ignoring his little brother. Without waiting for a response, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers quietly.

Everything went black.

* * *

When I woke up my head felt fuzzy. I was tired. I felt myself falling foreword and I twitched involuntarily, straightening to my full height in the chair.

...in the chair? Suddenly, my vision snapped into place. I was sitting at the head of a ridiculously big dark wooden table. I tried to gather myself, tried to understand what had happened, what was going on. I took stock of myself, trying to be aware of my body. Was I hurt? Could I move?

The answer was no to both. I couldn't see anything physically tying me down, but I was incapable of standing or even moving more than an inch in any direction.

What I was wearing confused me. I was in an elegant dress that swept the floor. It swamped me in hot, stifling material that weighed on me. It was deep green and cut in such a way it made me think of 'Ye Olde England'.

Around me, my friends' eyes began to flutter as they awoke. Ororo's head rolled on her shoulders while Rogue tried to lift hers unsuccessfully. Remy moaned as his consciousness returned and Ryan shot him a look, stifling the sound. Remy shuddered, a painful look crossing his face.

"Welcome!" said Ryan, hands outstretched. "To our little gathering." He stood at the head of the table, gesturing subtly to a slave who quickly moved foreword and removed his robe. Underneath was an old fashioned set of clothes fit for a king. Apparently that's what he fancied himself.

**That's Ryan all right. Always thought he was a prince. And when Father banished us, he appointed himself king of the world.**

_Charlie? Oh my God, Charlie, we're in big trouble! What are we gonna do? Logan's gone and I have no idea where Rain is_**-**

**Stay calm. I'm working on a plan.**

_Well? What is it?_

**I…I'm not exactly sure yet…**

_Charlie!_

**I'm working on it!**

Bobby jerked awake then, startling me out of my hurried conversation with Charlie.

"Ow." He said, shaking his head briefly. And then, looking up and seeing where he was, "Holy crap!"

"Silence!" Ryan thundered. Mouths snapped shut involuntarily. At my right hand, Scott struggled to speak, working his jaw.

"Stop." I whispered. "You'll just hurt yourself."

"I'd listen to her, Blinkey." Said Ryan, flicking his fingers. A jeweled knife appeared in his hands and he proceeded to nonchalantly clean under his fingernails.

I bowed my head under his speculative gaze. I studied the polished whorls on the table waiting on Charlie's plan to surface in my mind. If only he would hurry up!


	29. Back in Business

**Long story short (no pun intended) I took a bad writing class. Or "workshop" rather. Needless to say I lost confidence in my work for a while. Until I went to my Aunt's house and she showed me how she printed out _my entire story_ and showed me the reviews. I had forgotten. Thank you Auntie, for your confidence and thank you readers for your reviews. They help more than you know. Thank you for your patience.**

**~quietcutie651**

Ryan started to wax poetic about his conquest of the entire X-team. I tuned him out.

_Can't you think any faster?_ I snapped at Charlie, panic heating my blood.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Ryan roared, fist banging down on the table with a thundering echo in the large hall. Instantly, all eyes turned to him.

I flinched in my seat, trying to tear my eyes away from him. His black eyes burned straight into mine. I begged silently for a distraction. His fiery gaze was making me feel sick.

There was a knock on the door and it swung open silently. Ryan glared for a moment longer before turning to see who walked in. My throat closed up. Rain appeared in the doorway and started walking across the hall, her head bowed and eyes downcast, to Ryan who held out his hand to her. She took it reluctantly, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.

She was so beautiful. Her short black hair had been combed and a little bow added color. She wore an elaborate pale beaded gown with soft soled shoes that matched. She looked miserable.

"Princess," said Ryan, "I'd like to introduce you to your subjects."

She barely acknowledged him, nodding offhandedly.

His smile faded. He squeezed her little hand in a painful manner. "Look at them," he demanded.

She winced and looked up. Our eyes met. "Mommy!" she cried. She tried to run to me, but Ryan held her fast. "Please!"

"No, no, your highness," Ryan cooed through gritted teeth. "Mommy's been a bad little sister. She and her little friends need to be punished."

"No!" Rain cried. "No!

"It's okay, baby." I said tightly. "We'll be okay."

"Who said you could speak?" Ryan snapped coldly. "Aidan."

Aidan, who had been messing with Jubilee and Hank, perked up at the sound of his name. He hopped on the table, a maniac grin spreading across his face. He cackled and faced me, pulling a wicked looking knife from some hiding place on his person.

"Teach her a lesson."

Getting the signal from his oldest brother, Aidan pounced, knocking me and the chair back onto the ground. The back of my head cracked against the wooden backrest of the chair and spots appeared in my eyes. The invisible bonds holding my wrists and ankles still suddenly disappeared and I brought my hands up defensively to shield my face. Aidan shoved my hands out of the way and raised the knife. I screamed as he brought it down and buried it to the hilt in my chest.


End file.
